My notes/outline/ideas

Well, here it is.  I figured I would put this up here, but my dad also suggested it so it must not be too stupid an idea.  These are my notes from the talk I gave on Friday at the Jr. High Retreat.  It went pretty well and I ended up talking for about 25 minutes (which I think was about 5 minutes too long).  Anyhow, this is just the outline, I have no idea what I actually said while it was happening.  That’s probably a good thing.  I’m interested to see how this gets formatted when I post it… so here it goes.


Obstacles to Community  (softball team as an example of community?)
What are examples of physical obstacles you can think of?
Things that ruin community with each other:
- putting others down, excluding others, not sharing,

Realizing the impact of words
James 3: 4 - 6

• What we say really does make a difference


• Positive – When someone tells me that I did something well I can think back on that when I’m having trouble.  (principals, my parents)


• Negative – When someone says that I don’t know how to do something I doubt myself the whole time I’m doing it.


• What we say shows what is inside – Matthew 12: 33-35


• What is inside that causes us to tear down and not build each other up?

Selfishness
Romans 12: 10

• We think of ourselves first


• We are afraid of what happens when we don’t make ourselves look good


• We base our confidence on the wrong things (others opinions)


• God gives us all we need

Revenge
Romans 12: 17 – 18

• If someone hurts you, you want to hurt them back


• To make things even


• To feel better


• Usually you feel worse

Laziness
Proverbs 13: 4
Ecclesiastes 10: 18

• It’s easy to make a joke


• When people are different


• When you can’t think of anything else to do or say


• It’s easy to spend time with the same people over and over


• It takes effort to reach out to someone else and include them

The need to make conscious changes

• Your heart needs to change


• Can we change our heart on our own?


• God changes our heart if we let go of having our way

Psalm 51: 10 – 12

Questions:  Which obstacles seem the most daunting?  In what ways can God help us overcome those obstacles?

Something new

I just need to put something up here so that it’s new.  I’m getting a talk (basically a sermon, but we’re calling them “talks” so that the kids don’t think of it as a sermon) ready for tomorrow’s sleep-over/retreat/group thing at school.  We’re having all the junior high students spend the night at the school Thursday night and doing activities and listening to people (the teachers and principal) give talks on Friday.  It should be fun even if it will be a lot of work.  Most of all I’ll have to be one of the adults, which will be a pretty big difference from my other experiences as a youth.  Also, I’m speaking on Friday and have only had since yesterday (Tuesday) to get ready.  I only have to do about 15-20 minutes, but I’ve never really done this before, so I’m wondering how it will really go.  My topic is: Obstacles to community.  We’re focusing on how the students can build community within the school.  This is mainly due to their nature as junior highers to rip each other apart and split off into separate groups.  We want them all to be included and encourage each other.  Anyhow, I need to walk the dog, go to bed, get up, teach all day, come home, get ready to go back, go back to school, stay up late, be in charge of kids all day again, send the kids home, and then figure out when I’m going to catch up on the schoolwork I’ve neglected for a couple days (I’ll probably spend a good part of the weekend doing that).  Gotta go.

Also, doesn’t that really long paragraph make for difficult reading?  Sorry.