Movements everywhere so that others will…Experience Christ…Embrace the Gospel…Enter into the Mission

The 2012 Mid-MN Cru Legacy Dinner is approaching.  Saturday April 21st

To register, click here

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Life Groups. What are they, and why should you be involved?

Life groups are a time when students who are interested in either learning about God and Christianity or growing in their faith can come together in a safe and open environment to do so. Now you may be asking, why are they called life groups? Aren’t they just the same as bible study? The answer is no. Because not only do we study the bible, we also do life together. We eat together, we pray together, we even cry together (probably more likely in a women’s life group).

Finally, why should you join a life group? First of all, it’s the chance to make new friends who can share in your curiosity, victories, or struggles in faith. Secondly, you can go with the assurance that no question is stupid, and that you have leaders who have made it their goal to help you grow in any way they can.

Interested in joining a life group? Check out the list of dorm life groups or life groups with Athletes in Action, and if you have questions about these life groups, please post your question on our facebook wall.

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Read the lyrics to this hymn by John Newton, and let your soul sing at the amazing love of God. This makes me so thankful to have a friend like this in heaven. Jesus demonstrated the greatest possible love a friend can show, in that he lay down his life for us. John 15:13.

One there is, above all others,
Well deserves the name of Friend;
His is love beyond a brother’s,
Costly, free, and knows no end:
They who once His kindness prove,
Find it everlasting love!

Which of all our friends to save us,
Could or would have shed their blood?
But our Jesus died to have us
Reconciled, in Him to God:
This was boundless love indeed!
Jesus is a Friend in need.

Men, when raised to lofty stations,
Often know their friends no more;
Slight and scorn their poor relations
Though they valued them before.
But our Savior always owns
Those whom He redeemed with groans.

When He lived on earth abasèd,
Friend of sinners was His name;
Now, above all glory raisèd,
He rejoices in the same:
Still He calls them brethren, friends,
And to all their wants attends.

Could we bear from one another,
What He daily bears from us?
Yet this glorious Friend and Brother,
Loves us though we treat Him thus:
Though for good we render ill,
He accounts us brethren still.

O for grace our hearts to soften!
Teach us, Lord, at length to love;
We, alas! forget too often,
What a Friend we have above:
But when home our souls are brought,
We will love Thee as we ought.

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If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
— 2 Chronicles 7:14

For thus says the LORD, who created the heavens
(he is God!),
who formed the earth and made it
(he established it;
he did not create it empty,
he formed it to be inhabited!)
“I am the LORD, and there is no other.”
— Isaiah 45:18

When we think about prayer, it is helpful to focus on who God is:

• There is nothing like our God, who created all things (Isaiah 40:28-31).
• He is the first and the last (Isaiah 44:6).
• He is unsearchable, His depths cannot be measured (Romans 11:33-36).
• He is a merciful, gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in love (Ex 34:6-7). He will by no means clear the guilty.
• By His rightful wrath He crushed Christ, put Him to grief (Is 53:10).
• For the sake of His holy name He saved us (Ezekiel 36:22-28, 1 John 2:12).

Prayer is an important part of the life of a follower of Jesus:

• Our God delights in our prayers (Rev 5:8).
• He tells us to pray (Is 62:6-7, 1 Pet 4:7, 1 Thess 5:17, Mark 14:38).
• And He invites us to ask of Him (John 14:13-14, James 4:2, James 1:5-8, James 5:16).

Finally, prayer brings in us an attitude of humility, since it causes us to depend not on our own understanding:

Trust in the LORD with all your heart,
and do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make straight your paths.
— Prov 3:5-6

We can put our trust in God through prayer, and through standing confidently on His promises in faith (Heb 10:19-25, 2 Pet 1:2-9). Without God we can do nothing (John 15:5). Everything is all about God, Who He is, His purpose, His desires, His plan, His glory! He says:

For my name’s sake I defer my anger,
for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you,
that I may not cut you off.
Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver;
I have tried you in the furnace of affliction.
For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it,
for how should my name be profaned?
My glory I will not give to another.
— Isaiah 48:9-11

The depths of God’s love cannot be explained, that He would chose to save us though we have offended him and privilege us with a role to play in His kingdom for His glory! Let’s not take this lightly! Oh that we as a body of believers would see that vast importance of prayer and cherish it! That we would unite together to cry out to our magnificent God as He desires us to!

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen
—Ephesians 3:20-21

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Hey y’all, Fall Getaway was last weekend.  Because I was on the Special Events/Operations team for Cru, My team planned the weekend with a staff member.  It was cool seeing how this weekend played out.  Our main Speaker, Bob Francis spent 30 years as a staff member with Cru nationwide, until about 4 years ago when he is now working at the headquarters in Orlando.  It is cool hearing insight from someone who has spent that much time on staff.

The first night Bob talked the idea of faith and how Abraham stayed faithful to God even if it meant almost sacrificing Issac, his son (which alludes to the Gospel in Genesis 22).  In a way, it was great hearing the fact that while Abraham lived, the Gospel was being stressed.  Saturday morning, Bob gave had to do with hope and eternal perspective.  And that night he talked about love being the core motivation to live out our lives.  Sunday morning, Bob tied all three talks together after answering questions from the students.

What I personally got from the weekend is that I need to be a better steward with the life God has given me.  It is easy to find other ways through my effort, but ultimately, I need to give it to God.  I need to give up my time and my finances.  I need to be smarter with these things and not squander it on lifeless living.

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Your Lord is very jealous of your love, O believer. Did he choose you? He cannot bear that you should choose another. Did he buy you with his own blood? He cannot endure that you should think that you are your own, or that you belong to this world. He loved you with such a love that he would not stop in heaven without you; he would sooner die than you should perish, and he cannot endure that anything should stand between your heart’s love and himself.

— Spurgeon, Morning and Evening, Morning of September 12

But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

— Romans 5:8

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But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

—Romans 5:8

An encouragement I received from the Tenth Avenue North concert. God doesn’t need to demonstrate his love to us any other way. He doesn’t owe me anything. I can’t say, God, show me that you love me by giving me good friendships, or by giving me good grades, or by giving me a perfect career, or by giving me a girlfriend. He already has shown me that he loves me in the most amazing way! Through the death and resurrection of his son, Jesus Christ.

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