In order for people to better understand this group, it is necessary for them to understand who I am. I wouldn't even begin to pretend that the functionality of this group is dependant on my leadership skills or ability to teach, because in reality I have little experience with these kind of things. The only existing pretense I have to pioneer The Stand is a core temperature of 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit; a burning desire. Needless to say, I don't have it all down. Even when I'm at my best in my relationship with God I struggle to force my passion outside of the four corners of my mouth. Neverless I would have you all know what you see before you is a product of love. Nothing more, nothing less.
At times the center of all Christian thought might seem slightly cliche. It may even seem to be some kind of fraud or veneer used to cover something more sinister. If you think so I can't blame you. How many Christians do we have who only solidify the authenticity of the outside world's view of the Stained Glass Masquerade? To be honest, this is one of my greatest desires: to shatter the glass. We've grown so accustomed to our self-indulged infatuation with religious customs, that we've set up for ourselves some kind of false Christian faith. Why is it that people wear their Christian faith to "church" and take it off when they enter into the real world? It's because we've made "church" into some kind of facade. Some kind of holy place where we cover up who we truly are and try to act as God would have us for two hours a week. Why is it that so many pastor's have become so fake? Have we abandoned our search for God as we try to make people feel confortable? We worry so much about how church is "supposed to be done", that we're afraid to tell others about our problems and even, our triumphs in Christ's name. Who are we?
I guess I'm running free from the topic and should get back to telling you about me. Who am I? Actually, it's not particularly important where I fall on the scale. I am a beautiful mess. I am a degradate, lowly soul who is being raised up by God to dine with Him. And so are you... that is, if you proclaim Jesus Christ as your LORD and Saviour. Unfortunately, I'm still breaking glass in my own life, and never will finish 'til the day I die. I will grow closer to God until the day we meet. Soul exposed? Who is it that I strive to be like? Read the Bible and study Jesus for yourself, then you'll understand my role model.
Until that day when we meet seperate from all these circumstances, know this: I love God. Truly, I hold no other value than that alone. Any other things I have are only a bi-product of that one momentous truth. I have a passion for the lost, and just as much for those lost in their own faith. The believers that hold that Truth inside of them, but don't even realize the awesome glory of the mystery they've so thoughtlessly rationalized. This, at the true heart of all reality is the truth about who I am.
~Daniel Deurbrouck
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Meeting 3...
Hey Bloggies, sorry about not adding these meetings sooner, kinda forgot the login and password for the blog. lol. But no matter I'm emailing this in.
Okay so, meeting 3. We had 13 people again... Oh well. We started with a couple worship songs courtesy of Kristen (great job on guitar). By the way, two weeks from now November 4th is obscure instrument day. Anyways, because Daniel has some sort of dizziness in his head he wasn't able to plan this week, Kristen, the VP, was the deliverer of the message.
She started in 1 Kings 19:10-18. In this selection, the Israelites were turned away from God and now calling out for help, as they do so much in this book. One would think that they would learn... but it's human nature. After discussing the meaning of these verses, we watched a moving video on YouTube about God in the silence. So often in our lives we surround ourselves with noise both literal and, as pointed out by Landon, figurative noise. Figurative noise meaning any distraction from God. Why is it so hard for us to be in silence? Why is it so difficult to find a place of silence in all of our free time?
We all decided that we should set aside time for God. Even if it means waking up early, taking time away from the busy schedule, and turning off the music. Jesus saved OUR lives on the cross, why can't we find even 15 minutes for him? So yea, something just to think about.
Great job Kristen!
Nick the Mancretary
Notes credited to the one, the only, Anna! (Israelites->Isralelights)
Okay so, meeting 3. We had 13 people again... Oh well. We started with a couple worship songs courtesy of Kristen (great job on guitar). By the way, two weeks from now November 4th is obscure instrument day. Anyways, because Daniel has some sort of dizziness in his head he wasn't able to plan this week, Kristen, the VP, was the deliverer of the message.
She started in 1 Kings 19:10-18. In this selection, the Israelites were turned away from God and now calling out for help, as they do so much in this book. One would think that they would learn... but it's human nature. After discussing the meaning of these verses, we watched a moving video on YouTube about God in the silence. So often in our lives we surround ourselves with noise both literal and, as pointed out by Landon, figurative noise. Figurative noise meaning any distraction from God. Why is it so hard for us to be in silence? Why is it so difficult to find a place of silence in all of our free time?
We all decided that we should set aside time for God. Even if it means waking up early, taking time away from the busy schedule, and turning off the music. Jesus saved OUR lives on the cross, why can't we find even 15 minutes for him? So yea, something just to think about.
Great job Kristen!
Nick the Mancretary
Notes credited to the one, the only, Anna! (Israelites->Isralelights)
The Second Stand meeting!
Hey blog readers, I know you've all been waiting for the second Stand meeting... all two of you. Anyhow, the meeting started out with an icebreaker, which ended up failing along with the whole point of the game. Our attendance was 13, that's a 162.5% increase if you were all wondering. Some guy gave his testimony, but that's not important.
This week, we had Daniel again. We are the Stand are we not? well that's only half of the battle. Daniel reminds us that we need to Stand but don't stand still. The lesson started on Isaiah 6 and he named the "chunks" as he calls it. So, the first chunk was "God's Majesty". Basically what Isaiah was saying was he was in awe of God when the seraphs (angels) came and spoke which shook the posts of the doors. That's pretty amazing, I would be in awe too! Chunk dos was "man's depravity". What does that mean? This means that we are unclean and Isaiah knows it. He feels real bad when God comes and catches him off guard. 3rd Chunk is "Man's salvation". Isaiah realizes that there is hope because of salvation. So often in life we think..."oh I'm saved" but we don't take time to share the gift with others or be thankful. The next chunk is 4, "God's calling". well, Isaiah realizes he needs to change. He lays down his life before God saying, "Here I am, Send me!" responding to God's call. So.. have you gotten to that stage yet? Do you realized how great our God is, if so, what are you doing about it?
Yea so we all figured out that we needed to do something. We are all saved, so let's serve God instead of living our lives for ourselves expecting to go to heaven when we're finished pleasing ourselves.
Great message Dan!
Nick the Mancretary.
Notes credited to Anna~
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Christian Hotline
1-888-NEED-HIM is a toll-free inter-denominational Christian question/guidance hotline. I haven’t tested it out yet, but if you are interested, the website is http://888.needhim.org/.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
This week!
1 Peter 2:1 Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind.
Welcome all our new members! It is inspiring to see how The Stand grows in numbers, despite the restrictions place on us by the school, and the newness of our group.
For Bible study next week, please memorize Romans 1:16-17 if you have been to a meeting before, and bring you Bibles. If you have an extra, it would be very helpful to bring it as well for people who forget. Anna will be coming around asking about bringing snacks. Don’t forget, you can email prayer requests to katilincasey@hotmail.com, questions to wearethestand@hotmail.com and posts for the blog to lemkin66nikmel.posts@blogger.com.
Friday, October 9, 2009
Roundup and Next Meeting
Ecclesiastes 4:9-10: "Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls for he has no one to help him up."
Hey!
Roundup was fantastic! Thank you to Annie for bringing the candy, and Nick and Anna for the fliers.
Our next meeting is this coming Wednesday, October 14th. Please bring your Bibles as always, and have Isaiah 40:31 memorized if you attended a meeting before. If you would like to, you may bring money to donated to the Stand's unofficial treasury for possible events/snacks. This is COMPLETELY optional, so do not feel that you must do so!
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Our First Official Stand Meeting!
Hey everyone,
Today was our first official Stand meeting. Why? Because we are now an official club at Redmond High. Our meeting was from 12:30 to 2:00 and it was held in E118, Mr. Barashkoff's room. The attendence was 8. We spent the first half of the meeting voting on names, and ended up keeping The Stand. After that, we prayed and dove into the Word.
The speaker was the one and only Daniel D. who took us into the book of 2 Timothy chapters 3-4 verses 3:10 to 4:10. He divided these verses into 5 "chunks". Chunk 1 was "qualities of a christian worker." Basically, Paul writes to Timothy about the things that he's (Paul) experienced and embraced, informing him on what Timothy's getting into. Chunk 2 was "qualities of scripture." Paul tells Timothy that all scripture is "God breathed" and that it has the power to change people. Chunk 3 was the "actions of christian workers." The scriptures have the power to change peoplem therefore, preach it. Chunk 4 was the "results of christian workers." Paul uses the analogy of wine on burnt offerings to himself and Jesus. As wine made a pleasant aroma for a burnt offering, the result of Pauls life made him pleasant to Jesus, who sacrificed himself for the sin of the world. Lastly, chunk 5 was the "result of a failing christian." Paul tells Timothy that if you dont keep up in your faith, you will start to stray away from God. Daniel ends with the question, "Are you a Paul, or are you a Demas?"
In our discussion we discovered that most of us were still in between. No matter how hard we try, we cannot become completely selfless and pure but we can strive to be like Paul, who strived to be like Jesus. In our lives today, we tend to live for ourselves instead of for God, and the big conclusion we came to was that we need to start taking steps toward living for Jesus!
Great message Dan!
Nick R. the secretary man
Today was our first official Stand meeting. Why? Because we are now an official club at Redmond High. Our meeting was from 12:30 to 2:00 and it was held in E118, Mr. Barashkoff's room. The attendence was 8. We spent the first half of the meeting voting on names, and ended up keeping The Stand. After that, we prayed and dove into the Word.
The speaker was the one and only Daniel D. who took us into the book of 2 Timothy chapters 3-4 verses 3:10 to 4:10. He divided these verses into 5 "chunks". Chunk 1 was "qualities of a christian worker." Basically, Paul writes to Timothy about the things that he's (Paul) experienced and embraced, informing him on what Timothy's getting into. Chunk 2 was "qualities of scripture." Paul tells Timothy that all scripture is "God breathed" and that it has the power to change people. Chunk 3 was the "actions of christian workers." The scriptures have the power to change peoplem therefore, preach it. Chunk 4 was the "results of christian workers." Paul uses the analogy of wine on burnt offerings to himself and Jesus. As wine made a pleasant aroma for a burnt offering, the result of Pauls life made him pleasant to Jesus, who sacrificed himself for the sin of the world. Lastly, chunk 5 was the "result of a failing christian." Paul tells Timothy that if you dont keep up in your faith, you will start to stray away from God. Daniel ends with the question, "Are you a Paul, or are you a Demas?"
In our discussion we discovered that most of us were still in between. No matter how hard we try, we cannot become completely selfless and pure but we can strive to be like Paul, who strived to be like Jesus. In our lives today, we tend to live for ourselves instead of for God, and the big conclusion we came to was that we need to start taking steps toward living for Jesus!
Great message Dan!
Nick R. the secretary man
Hey!
One of my friends posted this link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Norris_facts on her facebook wall. I think she meant it to be derogatory, but I was actually quite impressed.
I have overheard these jokes before from certain people, and never really thought much of them (I don't know all that much about Chuck Norris, and have never really cared). However, knowing the issues many celebrities have, especially Christians (think Katy Perry's transformation), its great to see when they stand up for their faith under the pressure of the public eye.
Please post examples of other celebrities standing for Christ!
One of my friends posted this link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Norris_facts on her facebook wall. I think she meant it to be derogatory, but I was actually quite impressed.
I have overheard these jokes before from certain people, and never really thought much of them (I don't know all that much about Chuck Norris, and have never really cared). However, knowing the issues many celebrities have, especially Christians (think Katy Perry's transformation), its great to see when they stand up for their faith under the pressure of the public eye.
Please post examples of other celebrities standing for Christ!
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