This week should be pretty challenging to us all and will require us to really evaluate how we spend our time. If we want to be a person of influence we need to make time for the things that matter most!!!!
IMPORTANT REMINDERS:
+ Post about Week 6 of Max Q
+ Memorize the assigned Scripture passages:
Matthew 28:19-20; Romans 3:23; Romans 5:8; Romans 6:23; Romans 10:9
IMPORTANT DATES:
ChicaGO SEMP Overnighter at NMC
Friday, June 10 - 5:30 pm through Saturday, June 11 - 1 pm
Completely have read "The Barbarian Way" by Erwin McManus
* Remember, this is NOT OPTIONAL. If you signed up for this trip you were agreeing to the outlined dates and expectations. Everyone is expected to be at the Overnighter as this is a crucial component in our trip experience together!!
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This week has challenged me to get into the bible and have time alone with God more often and at a long time then just a few minutes. He deserves more of me then I give him. Jesus even withdrew to a mountain to pray after a big event in the bible, the feeding of the five thousand. So, why should I not take as much time as I can to talk to my creater? Are focus needs to be on God before we can influence our friends and others toward him!
ReplyDelete~Bethany Metzler
I think this week was very imporant. There are always gonna be times when we need to "bail out". Its not our faults nor is it out unbeleving friends faults but sometimes it just needs to be done and tact is cruical! And always always check your motives no matter what your doing! That is what you'll look back on and that is what will stick out to God in anything.
ReplyDeleteDana Keller
This week for me was a time to reflect on when I felt the Holy Spirit tugging on my heart about relationships I've had in the past, and how I need to listen to his voice more often. When He tells you to do something, he knows what he's talking about!
ReplyDeleteJustin Krakowski
This week I was mostly effected by day four. It really caused me to just evaluate every relationship I have. I 2 things that you shouldn't do to get out of unhealthy relationships. But there was something that I cuold not figure out...the very last question that asked how can you bail out of relationship w/o appearing judgmental? I really just don't know how you could do that I mean I know there IS a way to I just don't know the right way.
ReplyDeleteJessica Tuttle
So I feel like this week is a really important point in this whole experience. I like it that we were challenged this week on setting standards and sticking to them. I feel like it's time to really evaluate our reasons for going on this trip. Let's ask ourselves this week some tough questions. Why are we going on this trip, why are we taking this training, what do we hope to accomplish personally, etc. Let's be really specific and really honest with ourselves. Remember that a hugely important part of this experience is writing letters to people who are really close to us and hopefully and prayerfully impacting their lives for Christ. This is more important even than the trip to Chicago.
ReplyDeleteI like it that the authors talked about making mistakes and being human. There are some standards that we may violate once without really hurting anyone, but a second violation could be devastating. I am concerned, however, that they didn't distinguish one standard from the rest. I hope and pray that you have made commitments to yourselves and God and that there will not be one strike when it comes to sex.
Jessica, I feel for you as I read your post. I can tell that you really want to do the right thing without being viewed as judgemental. Just remember that your relationship with God is the most important thing and that means that sometimes people may get hurt. Just be yourself, be kind and loving. When you pull away and you are asked why, be honest. Respond that your first priority is your relationship with God and He is asking you to focus yourself elsewhere. I truly believe that if He asks you to do this He will show you how. HE IS FAITHFUL!
What I got out of this week is that we think to take care of ourselves spiritually before we take care of others. This is really hard for me because I do not want to give up on a person. While reading the EXP portion I realized that even if we can influence others in a situation the most influencing thing could be to not partake of the group. Dan Mohler
ReplyDeleteI realize this week I need to spend more time with GOD alone, to help me grow spiritually and listen to what he has to say to me. This will help me be ready when I face tough situation with my friends. A quote I also like this week was honesty is not the best policy it's the only policy.
ReplyDeleteJaylin miller
day two stuck out to me the most the excuses to stay with the friends that r lost its hard to explain but he kinda like gives us permission to take a break and get our selves ready but u no that sounds bad but it makes more sense in my head
ReplyDeletekylee stutzman
What stuck out most to me was how it said that if your not ready to back off of a relationship that may hurt you spiritually, then your not ready to have a relationship with an unbelieving friend.
ReplyDeleteDanny Clickovich
As I'm sitting on the bus coming home from my vocal jazz competition late saturday night I am
ReplyDeletethinking "crap I will not be home in time to post for this week. Crap.that will be a strike. Shoot." I realized that although my max q is sitting at home and I can't look back on this week without missing my deadline I still learned something in this trip alone which may not mean anything to max q....people around me cannot have influence me. When I'm in control of me and do what I actually think is right than I feel stronger in my faith to the point where I can than influence them the other direction. bailey dahlgren
On day 2 the thing that stuck out most to me was that having unbelieving friends will help you make themdisciples, but we are called to make disciples, not friends.
ReplyDeleteAlso when I read the final question for the Q Point on day 4, I just sat there thinking because that is gonna be really hard to bail out of a relationship without appearing to be judgmental. I'm still not sure the answer to that question.
-thayne whites little brother :)
The line "sometimes we care more about our friendships than our friends" has always tremendously impacted me since the first time I heard it. And mostly because it speaks a truth into my life that I don't want to hear.
ReplyDeleteBecause placing friendships about friends, isn't just devaluing the ones I care about - it's also putting myself above God. At the end of the day, if I care more about my friendships, that means I'm caring more about myself by refusing to correct my friends, doing things to keep my friends, and making sure my friends like me so they stay my friends. And in the end, it's all very selfish.
But if I was truly concerned about God's glory and was able to get a piece of God's heart, suddenly all my desires to have and maintain friendships aren't as important. The goal now becomes carrying the name of Jesus to my friends no matter what the cost.
It's not about doing things better, it's about getting priorities straight and being obedient to God first and foremost.
Ill be honest my time alone with God isn't my top priorities, but that needs to change for me to be spiritually renewed and be able to be a good role model/leader for Christ. If any of you want to text me to remind me to to do that, that would be fine.
ReplyDeleteMatthew Prochno
you make standards to keep so you don't get into a bad position, but you also need standards to judge how the friendship of influencing is affecting you and when it's time to say that the friendship might be more harmful than day beneficial
ReplyDeletekelly miller
Day three was the most impactful for me this week. It caused me to take a step back and look at the relationships I have with non believers and ask myself these questions:
ReplyDelete1. Have my motivations changed?
- Am I in this relationship just to have fun or am I honestly and truly trying to evangelize?
2. Have I lowered or broken my standards?
- I cannot risk living my life as a hypocrite, if this relationship only causes me to compromise my standards, it's steering me down a path that I don't want to follow.
3. Do my parents approve?
- This one's a biggie. My parents aren't big fans of me having nonbelieving friends at all. But through sharing some of what I've learned in MaxQ, they see that those relationships aren't bad as long as they aren't damaging to my spiritual life. If they take notice that a particular relationship is damaging me spiritually, they'll make it clear and I will obey
Emily Hoffman
This week has been discussing something I haven't really thought of before. For me personally I think this has been one of the most important weeks. Since I have no non Christian friends in my life right now (or in my past) I dont have any experience with deciding when my friendship is becoming harmful to myself, and when or how to break away from that friendship. So this week has given me alot of things to keep in mind
ReplyDeleteMarcus Poland
I noticed this week that I need to spend more alone time with God. I just tend to forget or I just can't find the time. I need to take 10-15 minutes out of each day to have some TAWG. And I think it will help me get into a better routine of doing my MAX Q as well.
ReplyDelete-Megan Reed
Here are some things that stood out to me this week:
ReplyDelete* Put your own spiritual welfare before the spiritual welfare of others
* Throughout his life, Jesus put his own spiritual welfare ahead of the spiritual welfare of others.
* When you find yourself tempted to lower your standards or sacrifice your walk with God in order to stay in a relationship with an unbelieving friend, you need to make your own spiritual health the priority.
* You can't be any help to your lost peers if you're not spiritually strong.
* Do you care more about your friend or your friendship?
* Backing off or bailing out is actually part of the process of influence.
Sometimes I think we're so involved with our friends and/or those that we have a relationship with that we'll compromise what we know is right to continue doing what we know to be wrong.
This isn't being a person of influence but rather a person of compromise.
What do I need to do in my relationships currently to stand out more for Him?
In His love,
Pastor Chris
I really liked the phrase from day five that read, "Say what is true...pray before you do...and follow through." Already that phrase has helped me with a relationship that I felt I needed to back off of for a while.
ReplyDeleteHolly Prawat
In this week I took a lot out of it because I really need to be more connected with god and stay salty with y relationship with him
ReplyDeleteBobby krakowski
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDelete"Failure is sometimes the greatest teacher"
ReplyDeleteThis just really stuck out to me...to be honest im not really sure why.
I think that it is so true that you can learn from your mistakes. But you also CANT use that as an excuse. "Two strikes, your out!"
Danielle Hudson
This week taught me a lot about how I view and see my friendships.. the unhealthy and healthy. I need to make sure out friendships our healthy and worthy of God.
ReplyDeleteCarlie Salinas
What stuck out to me this week was that I have to put my spiritual welfare ahead of my lost friends spiritual welfare. I love helping people and a lot of times I put others before myself. I just have to remember that the only way I can help my friends is if I put my spiritual welfare before everyone else's.
ReplyDeleteLindsey Allen
this week was so good and taught me alot, i was thinking about how i want to help other people with their relationship with christ when really i need just as much help. were not all perfect in our relationship with him i truely dont think we ever will be because all make mistakes as my mother says we are humans and we cant help it. we try not to but gossip and judgement is something we all do. this week i was really thinking about how my best friend and i are nothing alike spritually she doesnt go to churh and i do, i want to talk to her about it and i want her to have a relationship like i have one with god, as i was thinking about it i realized that im scared. im scared that if i tell her something about god she wont be my best friend anymore. then i decided that my faith is god was lacking and i need to trust him more because he will be there for me through thick and thin. i actually plan on talking to my friend monday. so this week about spiritual welfare has really opened my eyes to my own and i love it!
ReplyDeleteI learned that in order to influence anyone else, we better make sure we are in a spot to do that... We can't be any help to our lost peers if we are not spiritually strong ourselves. Then on day 4, it said that sometimes even withdrawing out of a friendship makes a big impact and may even be opening a place for someone else to continue to influence that person. This encouraged me to listen to God's promptings, even if it is difficult.
ReplyDeleteEmily Myers
what really stuck out to me this week was that in order to bail out of a relationship that i harming your spiritually you need to be HONEST with them, don't be harsh but be understanding and tell them that this relationship is not helping yourself grow in christ!
ReplyDeleteTaylor Hiester
i have troubles getting out of some relationships, so on day three when it was explaining the different kinds of signs that are telling you to back out of the certain relationships, it was just another reminder that God's got his hand on me, and i am strong enough to get out of some unhealthy relationships with his help.
ReplyDeletespencer dahlgren
What really stuck out to me this week is the part about not judging. I find my self so often judging others. Like our book said this was not the approach Jesus took. Jesus did not judge instead he invited anyone without sin to cast the first stone. I could not cast that first stone. I would first have to look at the sins and weaknesses in my own life. God calls me to love others and be an example of who he is not to judge.I want to strive to work on those weaknesses in my life so I can be a better example of who God is and what He can do in your life.
ReplyDeleteI feel like i judge others to much and if i judge them doesnt that mean they are probably gonna judge me and like i try to not judge them but yet my friends agg me on some how but i find myself juding people when i know i shouldnt.
ReplyDeleteAustin Sanders
before i say what im going to say, i should probably add that the reason this is a week late is because when i posted it a week ago, i closed out too fast or something and it didnt upload. atleast thats what im assuming.
ReplyDeleteI used to have a good habit of reading my bible and spending a good amount of time with God. but recently ive noticed myself falling away from it and i really need to get back into my routine. i definitly feel distanced from God because of my laziness
i like that it told me that it might be wise and not judgemental to back out of a relationship. so that might mean that you might get wiser in your faith with god.
ReplyDelete~austin Conrad
This week I nothing really stood out to me in max q. I just realized I just need to spend more time working on it and time with god.
ReplyDelete-Logan Gomez
Alright let me spit out what I got from this because I want you guys to catch this again! :) Our relationship with God should take priority over relationships with anyone else!! We are not on this planet to please man, but rather to please our God!! WE MUST FEED OURSELVES!! Especially since we are going to be doing Evangelism, that makes it that much more important because you are going to experience things that you may not think could happen, but Satan works that way and will attack you at any point of weakness that you have! Make sure that you are fed first before you tried to pour into others too much because you become what is called a "Starving Baker."
ReplyDeleteTake my word guys I have been there and it is not a good place to be in! If you tried to pour into other people or reach out to others and you are not taking care of yourself first... you are going to get burnt out, frustrated, and end up out of the Word and wondering why you feel like poo! Just remember this from what I said, Make sure that You and God are tight on a daily basis before you try and putting other people of high importance... and that means boyfriend and girlfriend too... they are ALWAYS after God!!!! ALWAYS! :) Okay, I'm off my soap box! :)
Well this is really late because my internet at home doesnt work so I'm at my dads for the weekend and doing it now :)
ReplyDeleteWell, backing out or bailing out of a friendship would definately be hard for me because Loyalty is important to me. but week six helped me see that loyalty to friends can sometimes decrease my loyalty To God.
Kaylin Pearson :)
Week 6 really helped me get some of my relationships to where they should be. Up until now I have always put others needs before my own. Realizing now that I was doing more damage than anything. By always putting others spiritual needs in front of mine jeopardized the risk of my own relationship with God. My relationship with Him needs to be my top priority. Also, I need to be strong and stable in my relationship with God before I can spiritually reproduce. Which makes sense, if my relationship with God is weak it will be evident and no one will be able to take me seriously.
ReplyDeleteAmy
I noticed this week that I need to spend more alone time with God. I just tend to forget or I just can't find the time. I need to take 10-15 minutes out of each day to have some TAWG. And I think it will help me get into a better routine of doing my MAX Q as well.
ReplyDelete-Megan Reed
two things that impacted me this week was one in day two it show me why i cant back out of a friendship. but now i see that if God put me in there life he can put someone else there to. the other one was on day three my favorite verse showed yup and reminded me that God is never to far away.
ReplyDeleteshayna gravy