Project 252 Wk2

Welcome to Week 2! The Goal of Project 252 is to teach you the habits necessary to becoming a lifelong follower of Jesus Christ. My hope is that you will carve out 5-10 minutes a day to do the following four things: 1) Read your Daily Devotion. 2) Spend 5 minutes in prayer. 3) Look over your memory verse. 4) Think about one thing you can do to reach someone for Jesus today. Keep in contact with your Mentor, especially if you have questions or need some help! Keep pressing in!! Here we go:

1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

October 5, 2009 Philippians 1:21 21For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. Save the whales. PETA. Earth Liberation Front. Pro-Life. Republicans. Democrats. These days everyone has a cause, something they will devote multiple hours of their lives to. For some, that cause is television. Maybe they don't go around blowing up buildings when their fav tv show goes on hiatus for a week, but it is what they spend their time and money on. Paul says that for him, living (remember, he didn't know he would be released from prison at this point) meant promoting the gospel. It was his passion, his life, his reason to exist.

What's your cause? -Jeff-

October 6, 2009 Philippians 1:19-20 19 For I know that as you pray for me and the Spirit of Jesus Christ helps me, this will lead to my deliverance. 20 For I fully expect and hope that I will never be ashamed, but that I will continue to be bold for Christ, as I have been in the past. And I trust that my life will bring honor to Christ, whether I live or die. *Sigh* It seems like about once a week I get an e-mail, see a blog or look at a bulletin on Myspace that tells some sort of sad story, and then tells me I'm not a "REAL" Christian if I don't forward this on to 20 other people, plus my life's gonna suck forever. Nothing like a little guilt to make you want to stand up proudly for Jesus, right? Please don't send me any of those chain letters, I don't like them and delete them as soon as they show up. So don't do it. Ever. This means you. ... ... Sorry, back to the devo: Galatians says "I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the POWER of God..." So why are we afraid to share the good news? We need to be bold in standing up for Him. I'm not trying to make you feel guilty, and it probably won't make your life any better (in fact Paul was in prison), but you will change a life, and that's worth it. -Jeff-

October 7, 2009 Philippians 1:22-26 22 But if I live, I can do more fruitful work for Christ. So I really don’t know which is better. 23 I’m torn between two desires: I long to go and be with Christ, which would be far better for me. 24 But for your sakes, it is better that I continue to live. 25 Knowing this, I am convinced that I will remain alive so I can continue to help all of you grow and experience the joy of your faith. 26 And when I come to you again, you will have even more reason to take pride in Christ Jesus because of what he is doing through me.

If you've been a Christian for any length of time, you've probably thought about this question: Why didn't God just take us to heaven when we got saved? In this passage Paul states that Heaven is far better than Earth. This is one of those "No duh" type statements. Of course Heaven is better. So if we're better off there rather than here, why aren't we there? The answer lies in Verse 24. Our lives are not about us. We're not here because God wants us to suffer, but because there are so many more people out there that He wants to save. So what are you doing to accomplish your goal here on Earth? One quick note, I find it interesting that Paul says in verse 25 "I am convinced that I will remain alive." Without knowing the future, He knew that God was going to rescue Him, because his job on this planet wasn't yet accomplished. Interesting. -Jeff-

October 8, 2009 Philippians 1:27 27 Above all, you must live as citizens of heaven, conducting yourselves in a manner worthy of the Good News about Christ. Then, whether I come and see you again or only hear about you, I will know that you are standing together with one spirit and one purpose, fighting together for the faith, which is the Good News. You are a citizen of Heaven! This place, with all of it's hardships and sorrows isn't your home. Here in Washington State we've pioneered a method of camping that's rare elsewhere. You may not know this, but usually when it rains, normal people don't go camping. I know it's weird, but only here in the Pacific Northwest do you see people putting tarps up, most people just stay home. Have you been on a trip like that? Remember how wet and miserable you were? Remember how you tried to convince your parents to end the trip early? You wanted to get home because it was comfortable there. Well guess what!?! This isn't your home! When you think about it that way, what does it make you want to do? How do you respond knowing that you won't have to stay here forever? For me it means that the hard times don't affect me as much. I don't sweat small things, because my perspective has changed. I can deal with the mud and yuck for a time, because I'm headed for streets of gold and a crystal sea! How has this changed your perspective? -Jeff-

October 9, 2009 Philippians 1:27 Part II 27 Above all, you must live as citizens of heaven, conducting yourselves in a manner worthy of the Good News about Christ. Then, whether I come and see you again or only hear about you, I will know that you are standing together with one spirit and one purpose, fighting together for the faith, which is the Good News. Yesterday I posted about the importance of seeing yourself as a citizen of Heaven. Today I want to focus on what it means to live in a manner worthy of the Good News. When Paul talks about standing together, it doesn't mean that you'll never disagree with someone, but when someone on the outside looks in at us they should see us standing together. Unity is key in the Christian church. When the believers in the early church were together in unity, it was then that the Spirit of God poured out. Because we're citizens of Heaven, be willing to let the small stuff slide, and God is going to use us to do some amazing things. -Jeff-

Name of Unsaved Friend: _____________________________________________________ My Other Prayer Requests: 1) ___________________________________________________________________________ 2) ___________________________________________________________________________ Also pray for Youth Conference and Invite Night that God would use both events to draw us closer to Him and to see many new people brought into His Kingdom!

Talk with one of your friends this week and see how things are going, ask them if there’s anything you can pray with them about.