My Epic Journey » world

Fasting–A 3-Day Journey

Ryan — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 15:07:25 +0000

My wife and I are halfway through a three day fast. Our goal during this fast is to open our hearts to what God wants from us. I am excited (though I have a huge headache) about this journey over 72 hours. I think most of us go through life just expecting God to meet us where ever we are at but Scripture is pretty clear that God uses us most in our weakness.

2 Corinthians 12:9-10 (NIV)
⁹But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.
¹⁰That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

So there are three things I have learned so far through this fasting journey:

I am incredibly blessed!! Seriously, I don’t even consider how readily food is available to me. I CANNOT complain about God’s grace and mercy on my–EVER!!!
I get grumpy when I don’t eat. Just saying!!
The farther down this journey I go the more sensitive I become to the groanings of this world. I cannot even imagine what God must feel as He looks down on His creation and sees us in such turmoil, despair, and chaos and yet unwilling to to turn to Him.

I pray I will seek to see this world and my own life through God’s eyes.

If the World were 100 people . . .

Ryan — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 23:03:35 +0000

Picked up this post here and thought it intriguing. What do you think?

What would the make up of this world be like if reduced to just 100 people? Share these thought-provoking numbers with your youth and see what they think. More information can be found here.

50 would be female
50 would be male

20 would be children
There would be 80 adults,
14 of whom would be 65 and older

There would be:
61 Asians
12 Europeans
13 Africans
14 people from the Western Hemisphere

There would be:
31 Christians
21 Muslims
14 Hindus
6 Buddhists
12 people who practice other religions
16 people who would not be aligned with a religion

17 would speak a Chinese dialect
8 would speak Hindustani
8 would speak English
7 would speak Spanish
4 would speak Arabic
4 would speak Russian
52 would speak other languages

82 would be able to read and write; 18 would not

1 would have a college education
1 would own a computer

75 people would have some supply of food and a place to
shelter them from the wind and the rain, but 25 would not

1 would be dying of starvation
17 would be undernourished
15 would be overweight

83 would have access to safe drinking water
17 people would have no clean, safe water to drink.

Ask: What surprises you about this list? What saddens you? If the world were more like the Kingdom of God, how would these numbers be different? What response to you feel compelled to make? Is there any way we might respond as a group?

2012

Ryan — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 14:51:33 +0000

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

Are You Balanced

Ryan — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 14:37:32 +0000

In our churches, we come across many different types of people.

Morally-Imbalanced

Some who are passionate about God and the Bible but don’t know how to apply it to everyday life. I refer to these as morally-imbalanced individuals. They know what God says but don’t have any problems living LIKE the world.

Biblically-Imbalanced

Others have THIER opinions but can’t back them up with Scripture. They may use Scripture but it is usually pulled out of context to fit their needs morally. They have a right and wrong but it is usually their own and not substantiated by God.

Biblically-Balanced

The biblically-balanced individuals are rare in the church. These people, not only know what God says, but they put it into practices in their daily lives. Everything they do is first brought before God and His Word and then second, applied to their everyday situation.

Be careful to not assume that once you become a biblically-balanced individual that Satan sill try to pull you back into one of the imbalanced situations. Stay true to what God says and know how to apply it in everyday life.

Are We Nearing the End?

Ryan — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 20:51:17 +0000

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!!!!

Finding Our Way Home

Ryan — Thu, 15 May 2008 13:46:53 +0000

I am teaching in "big church" and kicking off a team teaching series from the Narnia movie, Prince Caspian. As a church, we have rented out a theater for opening night (May 16th). Terry, our senior pastor, and I are taking two weeks to pull from the movie applications to the Christian life.

This week I am kicking it off with, "finding our way home," and am using the story of the prodigal son as my base. It is interesting to me that the four sibling in Narnia don’t realize where they are at when they head back to Narnia. It takes them some exploring and experimenting before they realize that this was once home for them.

I think this is true of us spiritually as well. We often, as the angel pointed out to the church at Ephesus in Revelation 2, that we "have left our first love." Like the prodigal son in Luke 15, we have been lured away by the world and have forgotten the joy and fascination of being at HOME with God.

My points this weekend on helping us get back home are:

1. admit we are not where we need to be (v.17)

2. recognize what has pulled us away (vs. 18-19)

3. give up what ever is hindering us from going home (v. 19)

4. begin the journey back home (v. 20)

I would love to get any suggestions and thought from you. please comment them back to me.