Alive Youth Church Weekly

Alive Youth Church Weekly What have you been praying for lately? What has been occupying your prayers? And maybe an even better question: Do you sometimes undervalue the power of prayer? I want to share two quotes from the book "Draw the Circle" that have radically changed the way I view and practice prayer. "God won't answer 100 percent of the prayers we don't pray." And: "Why do we mistakenly think that God is offended by our prayers for the impossible? The truth is that God is offended by anything less! God is offended when we ask Him to do things we can do ourselves. It's the impossible prayers that honor God because they reveal our faith and allow God to reveal His glory." - Mark Batterson Those words challenge me every time I read them. How often do we pray safe prayers? Manageable prayers? Comfortable prayers? Prayers that don't really require God to show up? Yet throughout Scripture, we see a God who specializes in the impossible. T...

Alive Youth Church Weekly, What does it really look like to love our neighbor? Should I knock on doors on my street? "Hello, sir, how can I love you today?" I can confidently tell you I will not be doing that. So what then? Jesus says, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” It's one of the most quoted commands of Jesus and most well-known even outside of church circles, and yet it might be one of the most misunderstood. When most people hear “love your neighbor,” they think of being nice, polite, or helping someone in need every now and then. Those things matter, but Jesus had something much deeper in mind. When Jesus was asked, “Who is my neighbor?” He responded with the story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25–37). In the story, a man is beaten, robbed, and left for dead on the side of the road. Several religious people pass by without helping. Then a Samaritan, a person who would have been viewed as an outsider and even an enemy by many of Jesus’ listeners, stops, cares for ...