Highlights From September 20th...

What a great time we had this past Thursday! And if you were there, I certainly appreciate you for taking time out of your schedule and hangin' out with us. I certainly hope that you will make h2o on Thursday's a regular event for you. And how about seeing the Bible in Chinese? That was way too cool. At h2o, it is our plan to do whatever it takes to make the Bible relevant to you. This was just one small way.

Our Bible study for the week focused on stress...worry, and the dangers of it. How we feel when we are 'under stress'. But we focused on 7 ways to defeat worry. The 'Cliff Notes on Worry' if you will. We started out looking at a scenario where you are given a massive homework assignment of reading this massive book and having to write a 10 page, single-spaced paper on it. One student in the class was having all kinds of difficulty completing the task, while compared to another, he was moving right along at an incredible pace. The first student waits till the absolute last minute to turn in his paper, while the other has turned in his project 2 weeks early. How?! Upon further investigation, the first student realizes that the second student didn't read the entire book that was assigned. Instead, he opted for the 'Cliff Notes' of the book. The outcome, each student received the same grade.

Wouldn't it be great if somehow we could get a copy of the 'Cliff Notes' that would help us out in the worry department? For too often we spend many many tortuous hours, stressing out over things that are totally out of our hands. And we physically suffer for it. In Matthew, we find an incredible series of Scriptures that offer us an insight into many area of our life. Beginning in Chapter 5 and going through Chapter 7, Jesus gives us this magnificent discourse known by many as 'The Sermon on the Mount. If you haven't read it, I would really encourage you to do so. It's an amazing passage of valuable information from Jesus.

But is was in Chapter 6 that we find what I will call 'The Cliff Notes on Worry'. Verses 25 - 34 clearly outline 7 ways to win against worry. Here they are:

1.) The same God who created life in you can be trusted with the details of your life. Verse 25.

2.) Worrying about the future hampers your efforts for today. Verse 26.

3.) Worrying is more harmful than helpful. Verse 27.

4.) God does not ignore those who depend on Him. Verse 28-30.

5.) Worry shows lack of faith and understanding of God. Verse 31-32.

6.) There are real challenges God wants us to pursue, and worrying keeps us from them. Verse 33.

7.) Living one day at a time keeps us from being consumed with worry. Verse 34.

Worry...stress...they're killers! Let's encourage one another to grab this set of 'Cliff Notes' and apply them to our every day lives.

Have a great week...see ya Thursday!

Movie Night...

Hey, join us for Movie Night,

Saturday~September 29th at 6:00pm.

We're all invited to

First Baptist Church, 419 Coe Street

here in Tiffin

to watch 'Left Behind ~ The Movie'.

Looks like PopCorn and Soft Pretzels with cheese awaits!

Grab a friend...see ya there!

Dive In...

Join us Thursday nights for h2o! If you are considering spiritual matters or are just curious about God and the Bible, stop by and check us out. We hope that we can be of some help on this journey that we are all on, and point you in the direction to what really matters in life ~ Jesus Christ. h20 is part of Ohio Crosswalk, a statewide inter-denominational Christian collegiate ministry that provides opportunities for students to gather to worship, to serve, and to fellowship in Jesus Christ. h2o meets each Thursday night at 7:00pm in Chisholm Auditorium, located in Franks Hall on the Tiffin University campus. h2o…for those who want to explore and rediscover what it’s really like to be a Christ-Follower. Got questions...email me here.

Jim Whaley ~ Campus Leader

Bible Study Highlights From Sept.13th...

Each year, about a month prior to the start of school, every elementary school in the land puts out a school supply list. And Wal-Mart sets out a huge display in their front door of gazillions of copies of each and every school lists for Mommies and Daddies to get a list, and go get all the supplies on the school supply list. It’s a nightmare to say the least when parents are out in full force @ Wal-Mart in the back to school aisles.

Now when we get to the High School, the lists were gone but we were in routine enough to go ahead and get the necessities: paper, folders, notebooks, pens, pencils, Kleenex, gum, breath mints, chapstick, hand sanitizer, you get the picture.

But when we get to college, all rules are pretty much thrown out because you don’t have a clue what your professors are going to want until that 1st couple of days of classes. And by then you’ve already been hammered with 47 chapters to read in 14 different books; not to mention trying to learn where your classes are, trying to park, and of course buying your books. The 1st time I had to buy college books, I about had heart failure. How in the world could 5 books cost $800.00. I’ll never know!

What’s Missing?

Today, the average college student is so unprepared to face the new world. Whether it’s lack of parental support, maybe we didn’t get totally prepared in high school to face the new classes… maybe we were never really taught how to study in high school and the list goes on and on. We come to college not ready.

In 1997, the dropout rate for college freshman:
a.) in public universities = 28.6%
b.) in private universities = 25.9%
c.) overall = 26.7%

Today, overall, for all 4 classifications of students 500,000 students dropout of a 4 year college. And to make matters worse, nearly 1/3 of all Americans in their mid-20’s are college dropouts.

Today, ¼ of all new freshman who started T.U. or @ Berg, statistically will not be back next fall.
Again, what’s missing?

But there is a greater failure rate among college students and especially freshman. It’s a spiritual dropout… A relational dropout! Students today are walking away from any relationship they ever had with Jesus at an alarming rate. Today, almost 9 out of every 10 students, when they graduated high school are done/finished with their part of the relationship with Jesus. 85% - 90% of all Americans – 18–25 are unchurched...that means 17.5 million people! What happened?

It goes back to that backpack concept. We forgot a couple of things. When we graduated, or left for college, we forgot to pack a few critical items for survival.

For me, a flash drive is critical to my survival and possibly for some of you, something like a flash drive is critical also. Imagine everything that you ever worked on, all your pictures, MP3s, things that were very important to you. Imagine leaving that @ home, and forgetting to bring it, or worse what is you lost it? Or what if it were your laptop?

Students are forgetting to pack:
Their curfews – I’m in college, I can stay up as late as I want.
Their morals – many times, morals disappear on college campuses.
Their food – (Bible) “I won’t need my Bible @ college.
Their focus/their purpose.

Girls are consistently looking for their “MRS” degree and guys are looking for another notch on their gun. Yep, I would say, something is missing!

Grab your Bible and go on over to 1 Peter 5, and read verses 5 through 11. In a way, this is a perfect road map to college, and for college.

This is Simon Peter opening up his heart to us, trying to help us NOT make some of the mistakes he did. Simon Peter...the author of this book...the guy who 'literally' forgot his backpack, much less forgot to pack it. This guy knows first hand what it’s like to be chewed up and devoured by satan. He knew all too well that satan is consistently on the prowl. And if Peter tells us that in order for us to be on guard...be alert...ever watchful of satan, then we have to clothe ourselves in humility...how hard is that? Then Simon said to 'cast all of our cares on Jesus'. Why? Because Jesus cares for us...and Simon Peter knew that. Then finally, he says to 'resist the devil'. How? By being 'steadfast in our faith...knowing that we are not alone.' We're all in this battle, and Peter knew it. And he's sharing from the depths of his heart to try and protect us from this beast called satan.

And the end result...go ahead and read verses 10 and 11. Now you know...that's Peter we're talking about. He knew.

Peter, forgot to pack his backpack. And this is his 'school supply list' for us. But not only for school...but for life.

So this is Peter, Simon Peter himself telling us how to be guarded…how to survive…how to defend…defeat…avoid the attacks of the devil. Because he knew that Jesus perfected him, established him, strengthened him, and settled him. And Peter knew that Jesus would do the same for us.

How? He humbled himself, clothed himself with humility...he cast all of his cares on Jesus...he was sober…self controlled...he was vigilant…ever watchful...and he resisted satan being steadfast in his faith.

I don't know about you, but I think it’s about time we repacked our backpacks.

Join The h2o Facebook Group...

Hey...all you Facebook folks...

Join us on our new Facebook group: h2o...for all who thirst.

Tell your friends...and join the group!

Then Join Us Thursday Nights @ 7pm

Chisholm Auditorium on the TU Campus!

Highlights From Sept 6th...

Looking back over the past few years, are there things that you regret having quit? How easy is it to get excited over something new, start it…spend time and money for it…then QUIT! I know of young people today that have tried everything in the book, only to quit. I can tell you about a couple of young girls that started with ballet, went to gymnastics, to karate, then to guitar lessons. Before it was over, Mom and Dad had bought a tu-tu…a leotard…a gi…and a guitar! And neither one was cheap!

All of us in some way, can relate to the experience of getting tired, discouraged, or just plain bored, and not finished something that we started. It might be something that we felt very passionate about at one time, We may have put forth a lot of initial effort and/or expense, but we still didn’t see it through.

One problem is it seems that we live in a society that almost applauds quitting. Our culture seems to have geared itself up to expect people NOT to follow through. Many people would rather BAILOUT THAN BLAST THROUGH…Leave than Last…Throw in the Towel than Stay in the Game. We want month-to-month apartment leases; escape clauses in contracts, prenuptial agreements in marriage, and the list goes on!

Then we took it a little deeper? Have you ever walked away from or quit a friendship? Walked out on a friend. Things get too messy?

Maybe you walked out on a parent…or family member. Had a family member walk out on you?

Maybe you quit a job…work got too hard!

Changed Majors!

Maybe you walked out on God!

Then we took a look at what endurance really is.

We described endurance as stampeding through those stopping points of life. It’s painstakingly whacking down the walls that block us from achievements. It’s getting the job done! We even imagined the Incredible Hulk!

Then we looked at the life of a guy from the Bible who really modeled endurance. His endurance is so well known, you could say he is the ‘poster child’ for endurance. Who is he? His name was Noah. He’s the guy that built the really big boat right in the middle of the desert without a cloud in the sky.

Genesis 6:5-9 tells us that the earth was full of evil and corruption. Wickedness covered the earth. We also see the God was sorry that He created the earth. Then in verse 8, we see something special...we see that "...Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord."

This is one of the first and clearest references to the grace of God in the Bible. The phrase “found favor” is a Hebrew term referring to a superior person giving underserved favor to an inferior person.

In verse 9, we saw a possible cause to this effect of God’s favor. It says that “Noah was a righteous man, blameless among (or as compared to) the people of his time, and he walked with God.”

Then I asked "how do you think Noah ‘walked with God on a daily basis?’ ‘What might his ‘walk’ look like today?’

One of the things bound to happen to us when we walk with God is that He will speak to us, maybe not audible, but we will clearly know His direction for our lives.

How do we know His voice? Go read John 10:1-4. That will tell you how we know His voice. Go ahead...go read it.

Genesis 6:11-21 tells us that Noah heard God’s voice.

What did God want Noah to do...simple...go build me a boat. OK...no problem.

Genesis 6:22 is an incredible verse. Plain and simple, Noah obeyed. “Thus Noah did: according to all that God commanded him, so he did.”

Has God ever asked something of you that seemed totally ridiculous from your perspective or that was so far outside your experience that it made no sense?

We need to get a grip here. We're not talking about your basic fishing boat. Not even a ski boat for that matter. I'm talking about one HUGE VESSEL! If it wasn’t enough that the idea of building a boat blew Noah’s mind, the size specifications for the boat did! This boat was massive! God asked him to build a boat 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high. So not only was Noah’s faith blown out of the water, but the job was a nightmare! Certainly larger than anything he had ever undertaken in his life! And to build it smack in the middle of the desert. NO WAY...Right? Remember verse 22?

We’ve been talking about ‘staying in the game’, NOT QUITTING. What would you have done…how would you have reacted if God had told you to do that?

But this gets even better! Not only was the size of the boat unheard of, but Noah was 500 years old when he was commanded by God to start this project! Then, it took him 120 years to complete it. Now that’s endurance by anybody’s definition.

I don’t know about you, but after 80 or 90 years, I’d have been complaining: “God, come on! I’ve been watching the Weather Channel…and I STILL don’t see any clouds! What’s the deal! Fox News and Shepard Smith have been out here with their trucks and satellites for years now and the whole country things I’ve lost my mind!’

But…again, verse 22…Noah didn’t give up.

So there it was…120 years later…this ginormous vessel sitting in the middle of the desert…without a cloud anywhere to be found.

Then, from the 4 corners of the world, the animals started arriving at the boat. And the Bible says that Noah, his family and all of the animals finally walked into the finished boat. The Bible says that God closed and sealed the door…and 7 days later, the rain began to fall!

Noah…stayed in the game!

You might be thinking, “yeah, that’s great for Noah, but how do I do that?”

Well, since you've got your Bible handy, drop on over to Hebrews 12:1-2

“Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles us!”
WHAT A GREAT PICTURE!

Imagine the runners in the Olympic games...lined up at the starting blocks...everyone is ready, when one of the runners appear in a very unique uniform. There he is in long sweat pants, combat boots, a sweater, gloves, hat, and a wool overcoat. Not the likeliest of athletes, huh?

Then the starters pistol fires and the runners are off. The guy that's tangled up in the extra clothing trys to stay with the others, but, begins to slow down. He realizes what the problem is, and one by one, he removes the extra items of clothing, revealing a world class runner, ready for the race. Who now had 'thrown off everything that had hindered and entangled him.' (Heb 12:1)

Could that be a description of you?

And there in the stands, cheering him...cheering you on...were “So great a cloud of witnesses…(Heb 12:1)” There were people like Moses yelling out, "You can do it, I've stood at the banks of the Red Sea and God opened up the water for me and the children of Israel, I know He will help you!" Then you see David. And he's screaming, "Don't give up...you can face the giants in your life too. All you need is a few smooth stones of faith." And one by one, you see that you're not in this alone.

And what does the 'finish line' look like? None other than Jesus, standing with open arms, waiting...cheering...just for you.

Our enemy, satan, is constantly trying to get us to cross over that line that lies between trying to endure in God’s power and trying to endure on our own. Jesus could never have endured all the way to the cross without His intimate, constant connection to the Father.

Christ-followers are able to experience that kind of connection to God through the Holy Spirit. We may not hear the Father as well as Jesus did, but we can hear Him much better than we do now.

Finishing the race…Because He finished strong…so can we.

Let me end by simply saying this, don't give up, you're not alone. We're in this together...stay in the game.

This Thursday...

Ever been to the point when you just wanted to give up...throw in the towel? Me too. Join us this Thursday night for a time of praise & worship music, prayer and a look at what the Bible says about staying in the game, instead of quitting. It all starts at 7:00pm in Chisholm Auditorium located in Franks Hall on the Tiffin University campus. 'Staying power'...have you got it?

New @ h2o...

I've added a couple of new things, here on the h2o blog. On the side-bar on the right, you will see a poll...this week's poll is asking how often do you attend church. I'll have a new poll up each week. Be sure to VOTE!

Also, if you will scroll on down, also on the side-bar, I've added a daily Bible reading schedule for the month of September. Sometimes, we need help getting started in our Bible reading routines. Hope this helps!

Congrats to the Tiffin University Football Dragons!!!!!

Have a great Labor Day!