Monday, October 24, 2011

Girls Bible Study--TONIGHT!



What are you afraid of?  How do you react to your fears?  

Join us for Girls Bible Study TONIGHT, Monday, October 24th, as we talk through our fears together!  Meet at the Elliotts' place from 6:30-8:30pm.  Tonight we'll get into talking about our fears and how we react to them.  Come join us and feel free to invite a friend!

If you need directions or have questions, please email me at jstone@ridgecrestbaptist.org or call me at (417) 861-8143.  

Hope to see you tonight! :)


Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Hide & Seek: some thoughts from Emilee

Did you ever play "hide and seek" as a kid?  One person is "it" and everyone else goes and hides.

I feel like a lot of times we try and hide from God.  We do something wrong, and we feel bad about it, but we don't bring it before the Lord.  Our regret tells us that we recognize our wrongdoings, and because we recognize it, we feel that God should already know about it.

Here's the thing, God knows everything.  He knows when we screw up, but He still wants us to confess our sins to Him.  By confessing our sins, we show Him that we trust Him completely.  It shows Him that we care enough about our relationship with Him to not keep things from Him.  Let's face it:  keeping our sins from God is trying to lie to Him, and He already knows it!  It's like taking a cookie from the cookie jar right in front of your mom after she told you not to, and then trying to deny it.  You know you did it and she knows you did it, but you refuse to own up to it.

God knows what you've done (in a non-creepy way), so you might as well admit it.  Trying to keep things from God is completely futile, and gets us nowhere.  God loves you and He wants you to be able to come to Him with anything.

Spend some time praying today.  Tell the Lord what's on your heart.  If there's something you need to confess, don't hesitate.  He is always willing to listen, and His love for you doesn't change.  Trust Him.

~Emilee
10th Grade Girl

Monday, October 17, 2011

Girls Bible Study Session 4

It's that time again!  Join us next Monday, October 24th, at the Elliotts' House from 6:30-8:30pm.  We'll continue our discussion from "Head to Soul Makeover," this time talking about our choice of fear or faith.

We'll have some yummy fall treats and endless amounts of girl gab! :)
Hope to see you there!
~Jessie

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Head To Soul Makeover: Session 3 Recap

Have you seen the show "Don't Forget the Lyrics"?  I don't know that it's actually on air anymore; funny, it seems to have been forgotten...  On the show, contestants competed to see who knew lyrics to popular songs.  The competition required no singing talent, but rather the ability to remember and recite songs.

If you were to choose any type of contest, what kind of competition would you be most likely to win?

Maybe it's playing the violin, making friends, diagramming sentences properly, or winning the nice girl award; it doesn't really matter what it is, but we are all good at something!  The type of contest you'd be most likely to win signals an area where you feel confident about yourself.

When we're confident, we tend to tell ourselves things like, "I got this.  I'm good at this."  But in other areas of our lives, particularly areas where we aren't as confident, our self-talk tends to be more negative, spouting phrases like, "I'm such a loser.  I'll never get this."  When we practice negative self-talk, we tend to only encourage our insecurities to grow and abound.

Stop and think for a minute.  What lyrics or self-talk are running through your mind currently?  Are they positive words or negative vibes?

Here's the problem with that happens when we continually practice negative self-talk, we develop a process of negativity:

Step 1:  Your self-talk conflicts with what God says.  Your talk is full of negativity and lies.
Step 2:  You believe your self-talk.
Step 3:  Because you believe your negative and false self-talk, you think you have to hide the parts you feel ashamed of, so you hide your true self.
Step 4:  You become increasingly fake.

Remember, the whole point of this journey together is that we would continue to become more and more REAL, not more and more fake.  If you're stuck in a web of lies, don't worry, you're not alone.  Let's work together to get through it and start talking positively to ourselves.  Let's take a look at how we can rewire our negative self-talk.

Philippians 4:8 offers advice for our thinking:  "Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things."

God doesn't desire for us to practice negative self-talk or dwell in insecurities.  He wants us to Let's take a closer look at each of these qualities.  

-Whatever is TRUE.
Telling yourself what is true means that you tell yourself what God says about you and not what others say.  John 8:32 says, "Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free."

-Whatever is NOBLE.
No matter how unworthy you feel, God's love for you cannot and will not ever change.
Isaiah 54:10 tells us, "'Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,' says the Lord, who has compassion on you."

-Whatever is RIGHT.
Even when people around you mistreat you and do wrong by you, God promises to take care of you.
Psalm 27:10 declares, "Though my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will receive me."

-Whatever is PURE.
No matter what you've ever done, you are never beyond the reach of God's cleansing power.
Ephesians 1:4 assures us, "Long ago, even before he made the world, God chose us to be his very own through what Christ would do for us; he decided then to make us holy in his eyes, without a single fault--we who stand before him covered with his love."

-Whatever is LOVELY.
God wants to replace your injured, broken or ugly places with beauty.
Psalm 34:5 says, "Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame."

-Whatever is ADMIRABLE.
God gives you the power to do things you might not feel capable of accomplishing on your own.
Philippians 4:13 declares, "I have strength for all things in Christ who empowers me--I am ready for anything and equal to anything through him who infuses inner strength into me, that is, I am self-sufficient in Christi's sufficiency."  (AMP version)

-If anything is EXCELLENT.
Go's love and care for you proves your level of excellence in His eyes.
Luke 12:24 informs us:  "Look at the ravens--they don't plant or harvest or have barns to store away their food, and yet they get along all right--for God feeds them.  And you are far more valuable to him than any birds!"

-Or PRAISEWORTHY.
God made us acceptable, which results in praise to Him.
Ephesians 1:6 says, "To the praise of his glorious grace, by which he has made us accepted in the Beloved."

So what do you think, girls?  How do your thoughts compare to God's thoughts?  Take some time this week to examine your thoughts before the Lord.  Ask for His help in aligning your thinking with His.

Choose one of these characteristics to work on this week.  Write a note to yourself and stick it on your bathroom mirror, remind you to think on things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, or praiseworthy.

Be encouraged and know that God thinks the world of you and treasures you just as you are!

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Girls Bible Study Session 3


Guess what--it's been two weeks already and we are so ready for our next Girls Bible Study!  

Join us on Monday, October 10th
6:30-8:30pm
Jessie's House

For directions, please email Jessie at jstone@ridgecrestbaptist.org.

See you soon! 

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Head to Soul Makeover: Session 2 Recap

Hey, girlies!

Last week we had our second session together in Head to Soul Makeover.  I'm a bit slow in getting this recap posted, but better late than never!  (Our internet was down all week last week in the office, which made things a little bit tricky.)  Anyway, without further ado, here's our discussion from last week...

Imagine yourself as a contestant on American Idol.  Terrified?   Excited?  Yes, to both?

Have you ever won a competition, election, or tryout?  How did winning affect you?  Can you think of people who were changed by fame or wealth or success?

There are four types of pride we see among contestants on American Idol (and in other areas of life too):
     1.  Idol 1:  Thinks too much of herself
     2.  Idol 2:  Thinks too little of herself
     3.  Idol 3:  Thinks too little of others
     4.  Idol 4:  Ignores input from others

Where do you fall in among these idols?  Chances are you've got bits of each one.  But which do you see yourself being highest in?

The truth is that none of these idols is really what we want to be.  Rather than exhibit pride, we should strive to posses a quality that is genuine, deeply attractive, that makes people want to be around you.  That character trait is humility.

Before you get to thinking wrongly about what humility is, let's determine what humility isn't:
     -Humility doesn't mean dressing ugly.
     -Humility doesn't mean letting everyone boos you around.
     -Humility doesn't make you into a human sidewalk.
     -Humility doesn't make you feel worthless.

Humility DOES mean thinking rightly about who you are in relation to God.  That means knowing your real strengths, true weaknesses, genuine talents, and real worth.  When you begin thinking rightly or realistically, you become a real person in a fake world.  And that's our goal in this journey together.

Let's take a look at a guy that shows us a lot about humility.  In fact, Jesus actually called him the greatest person ever born (in so many words).  John the Baptist.

In Matthew 11:11, Jesus says, "I tell you the truth:  among those born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist."

Why was JTB Jesus' pick for World's Greatest Guy?  He was humble.

There are 3 things we can learn about humility from JTB:

1.  A humble person has the right perspective about who she is.
     Check out what JTB says in Mark 1:7.  He knew that God was more powerful than Him.  JTB demonstrated with his words and with his life the idea that "God is God--and I am not."

2.  A humble person directs people's attention to God.
     John 1:35-37 records an instance of JTB pointing people around him to Jesus.  By directing others' attention to Jesus, we automatically direct it away from ourselves.  We can't have it both ways.

3.  A humble person is not self-focused but God-focused.
     It's impossible to develop humility by focusing on developing humility.  We have to take our eyes off of ourselves and put our eyes on Christ.  Check out what John 3:30 says.

So, where do you stand, sister?  Are you a prideful person or a humble follower of Christ?  Do your words and actions show an accurate perspective of who you are, direct peoples' attention to God, and show a God-focused mindset, or are you boastful and self-centered?

I'm praying for you, that Jesus would be working on your heart and molding you into the likeness of Him.  I pray that God shows you gently areas of your life that are overtaken by pride and directs you clearly in paths of humbleness. Overall, I'm praying that He would become greater in you and through you.

Be blessed, girls!
Jessie

*All material was taken directly from Episode 2 in Head to Soul Makeover by Shelley Leith.