Hey Friends! Thanks for praying for us as we are away at camp. Below you will find the first Sealed Order (quiet time) we hand out to the students each day. I hope you will follow along with us as we journey into the life of Peter. The study is divided into two parts. First is a Peter narrative from the gospels, followed by quote from 1st or 2nd Peter. The second part also includes a visual which the students will have in hand… of course you will just have pretend the computer image is real… Lastly there are a few questions to ponder.

A couple of times during the week I will post pictures on the church website. You can link to them from here or go straight there.

Again, thank you for your prayers. Continue to ask God to move in our presences and ask that He will enable us to have faith to follow!

Click the picture above to read the Bible passage: Luke 22:54-65.

My friend was in a relationship that was slowly becoming a train wreck (really it had already crashed) and he was debating breaking up. As he contemplated this, his girlfriend sent him an email, which told him to go to a website that provided a free personality test. She had already taken the test, so the site would compare their personalities to judge if they were compatible as a couple. He went through the test and with the hopes of finding an answer to his dilemma, he was completely honest. The test has a lot of questions, but many of them asked about his current relationship. “What drives you crazy about your girlfriend?” or “Will you get married or are you thinking about breaking up?” to name just a few. My friend continued honestly, admitting what he didn’t like about her and how he was considering breaking up. As he finished the test he pressed send and waited for the results. But rather than a compatibility report another box popped up which read, “All of your answers have been sent to your girlfriend.”! Fear gripped my friend and panicking, he called to apologize…

This story make me laugh, but at the same time cringe over his girlfriend’s craziness. Plus I could not understand why he called to apologize, in my mind this was a way out. But honesty is difficult, so he pretended to be joking and claimed he still cared. I guess he was a afraid of losing her or that she would arrive with a chainsaw (Which, having known her, did not seem beyond the realm of possibility).

Fear drives us to make strange choices. Peter left everything to follow Jesus, yet he panicked in front of a servant girl! But we have all felt this—we have all been scared to declare Jesus as our Lord. A random question at school becomes an accusation in our minds. Our nerves take over, and then we deny him. Just like Peter our faith conforms to a dying world… and as with Peter, the Lord looks on as we deny…

Conform

¹⁴ As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. ¹⁵ But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; ¹⁶ for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.” ~ 1Peter 1:14-16

Resilient. These little bands always jump back into shape, but easily conform to our wrists…. Try on your silly band and then consider how they look. They are no longer a bus or pirate or tiger. Conformed to our wrist they are nothing remarkable, no different from a colored rubber band… in the same way, when our life conforms to those around us, rather than declare that Jesus is Lord, we are no longer anything that is remarkable…

Questions:

1. Have you ever denied Jesus?…
2. Silly Bandz – When we conform we become like those people around us. Some conforming is not bad. It is ok for me to wear a t-shirt and shorts rather than dress like Jesus. What conforming actions are wrong?
3. When our conforming becomes sin, we deny Jesus with our actions. What do I mean by this statement? How do our actions deny Jesus as Lord of our life?