My Epic Journey

November Teaching Series:  The Invisisbles

We are surrounded by the invisibles. These are people who simply want to know someone cares, someone notices—people who want to know God cares. Some of us would even say we feel that way—invisible to an entire world, daily passing us by. Whether that feeling is a familiar one or not, the reality is that each one of us has felt invisible at one point or another. But we didn’t stay that way. God saw us. He sees the invisibles. And because God took notice of us, we are able to open our eyes to see those around us.

· Week One: Can You See Me? (November 1st)

Sometimes you can stand in a room or walk down a hallway or sit in a chair and no one notices you. It’s not that you have some type of special ability that makes you invisible—people just don’t see you. They know nothing about you—nor do they seem to want to know anything about you. It’s like you’re not even there, even when you are physically in the room. You’re invisible. The good news is Jesus sees invisible people—even those who never realized they were invisible.

· Week Two: In Focus (November 8th)

Some people go unnoticed. There are people in the background of our lives we never see. Maybe it’s the guy at the gas station or the girl at the coffee shop. Maybe it’s the girl sitting in the lunchroom, or the guy hanging out in the back of the youth room. There are people all around us who we treat as invisible. But because of how God has seen us, because of what we’ve experienced personally, our vision is changed. How can we begin to see the people in our lives every day that may normally go overlooked? How can we see the people halfway around the world that go unnoticed? What can we do to bring those around us in focus?

· Week Three: Seeing Beyond the Seen (November 15th)

Sometimes what we really want isn’t what we are asking for. Sometimes what we really need is invisible to us. Thankfully Jesus sees us, really sees us. He sees the obvious physical needs and the more subtle spiritual ones too. And not only does He see them, He cares enough to do something about them both. When it comes to reaching out to the invisibles, when we provide friendship, water, help—sometimes it just isn’t enough. There’s a deeper, spiritual need that can only be met through Jesus Christ. And because of that, we do both—we help with the physical need but point them to Jesus Christ for the spiritual one.

· Week Four:  Service Project (November 22nd)

Excited about partnering up with Tonya Riedel and hosting a Parent’s Night Out for Parent’s with children with disabilities.  We will be meeting at the regular time of 5:00-7:00 pm.  Parents, if you want to join us as we serve the community, we would love to have you there!!

· Week Five:  No EPIC (November 29th)

Because it is the Thanksgiving Holiday weekend, we will NOT have EPIC on November 29^th.

Last Sunday night we tackled the 2012 prophecy.  Students are hearing it at school, media has quickly picked up on the topic.  Being a student ministry that is not afraid to tackle difficult topics, we, at EPIC, thought it important to address the prophecy and all the talk that is out there.  We were reminded that much of Scripture deals with prophecy concerning the end times and if God can talk about, we should be afraid to talk about it either.

One of our church (Grace Point) elders, Tommy Settipani, joined me on the platform that evening.  Tommy has an incredible knowledge of what God says concerning the end times and an incredible gift of explaining it in simple terms so I can understand it. 

We pointed out that likelihood of Jesus coming back in 2012 is no more alarming than the fact that He could come back RIGHT NOW.  After that, we took some great questions from the floor.  Thanks to Tommy for his quick thinking brain and his preparedness to handle the questions in a professional and calming way.

I just wanted to say Thanks!! to Tommy for being available, prepared and understanding on Sunday!!!

As promised, if you have any questions, you can post them here by commenting at the bottom.  I will then pass of those questions to Tommy and reply by commenting back on this post.

Thanks

A recent CNN.com report states:

Just as “Y2K” and its batch of predictions about the year 2000 have become a distant memory, here comes “Twenty-twelve.”

Fueled by a crop of books, Web sites with countdown clocks, and claims about ancient timekeepers, interest is growing in what some see as the dawn of a new era, and others as an expiration date for Earth: December 21, 2012.

The date marks the end of a 5,126-year cycle on the Long Count calendar developed by the Maya, the ancient civilization known for its advanced understanding of astronomy and for the great cities it left behind in Mexico and Central America.

Students are talking about because their schools are talking about. 

So what does God say?

Is the world going to end in 2012?

Could it happen right now?  Before I even finish this sente . . . . . . .

Just kidding-still here.

EPIC Student Ministries is going to explore the prophecy behind the Mayan calendar and compare it to what God says in His Word.

• WHEN:  February 22, 2009
• TIME:  5:00-7:00 pm
• WHERE:  Grace Point Community Church (2393 Peachblow Road, Lewis Center, OH 43035)
• WHO:  All middle and high school students AND their parents.

Don’t miss out on this exciting evening!!!!