Cell July 24 - Jeopardy!!


It was kind of a mellow night on Friday. The kids have been going hard at plugging through the Gospel of John the last couple of months, and so it was time to have some fun and dig out the old Bible Jeopardy program. I had loaded all new questions into it, so off we went.




It was a pretty fierce competition, but as they say, in the end there can be only one! And so Jacob's team rolled off with the victory.






Schedule Note:


This Friday (July 31) will be Movie Night at the church. No cell, but bring a chair or blanket and enjoy the movie!!

Posted byMichael J Mahoney at 11:59 AM 0 comments  

Cell July 17 - Vines, Branches and Fruit






We did something a little different this Friday night when it came to cell. Since some of the kids are getting older and getting ready to transition into the youth cell, and since some are working on teaching the younger kids in KidzPort, I decided to have some of them teach the lessons on Friday nights. This isn't an all-the-time thing, but I wanted to give them the opportunity to exercise their teaching chops. (and to see how hard it is to teach this group!!)





So the lesson this week was given by Josh. He taught out of John 15:1-9, which Jesus' metaphore of the vine and the branches. Josh did an excellent job breaking down the scripture, and had questions prepared for the group. He even had diagrams to illustrate the various "parts" we all play.



Of course, the "fruit" that we all hope to bear is twofold - of course we are all looking for "fruit" in terms of our outreach: bringing new people to Christ. The other "fruit" is the Fruit of the Holy Spirit - something that is growing in all of us.






Schedule Note: There will be cell next week, but it is also the Men's Fishing Outreach. Anyone who wants to go to that is excused from cell group.






Fifth Friday: For Fifth Friday this month, we will be joining with the rest of the congregation for a movie night in the church. There is no admission charge, and food will be sold.

Posted byMichael J Mahoney at 5:55 AM 0 comments  

Cell July 10 - Get Hated!


If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.


So says John 15:18-19. The world hates a Christian. I'm not (and neither was Jesus) talking about individual people, but about the spirit of the World, about Satan, and about people blinded and bound by him.


The world hates us. Why? Because we don't follow its rules. We don't think like it does. We don't belong to it.


It's one of the biggest irony's of all time. People who are of the world - of the flesh - love it. They think that the world (and the flesh) has the answers to all of life's needs and troubles. In essence, they are giving themselves over to Satan, to let him take care of them.


Satan hates them. He hates all of us. After all, his goal is to send everyone into eternal suffering. How can you do that to someone, unless you truly hate them? Why does Satan hate us? Because we have something he will never have. Satan desires to be like God. (Is 14:14) But it is we who are made in God's image! And so Satan's great pride causes his great hatred of us.


But it's alright. Satan (and the world) hates God, too. And since we are children of God, he loves us. So we need not fear Satan's hate. He can't harm us if we don't let him. And when the world rejects us, or the things we say, they are really rejecting Jesus.

Posted byMichael J Mahoney at 8:46 AM 0 comments