I Choose Eternal Life With Christ

It is interesting to think of our life as a giant choice. I often think of going to a local restaurant and seeing the large menu full of options. It usually takes me longer to read the entire menu than it does to eat the food that I choose. Sometimes we as Christians try and pick and choose what parts of the Bible we want to believe and follow. God made the decision process very easy. We can either choose to accept Jesus Christ in our hearts and live a life that expresses His love, or we can select to follow our own wants and desires. Reading through Matthew 25:31-46 "The sheep and the goats", God makes it very clear that we are either for Him or against Him. We will all stand before Him and give an account of our life. I choose eternal life with Christ... Just the thought of an eternal hell is freaky... but an eternal life apart from our glorious Lord and Savior... well that's just heart wrenching. A lot of people read Matthew 25:31-46 and get the opinion that we are saved based off of our works. Our works should be evidence of our faith... we are not saved by works... we are saved by grace through faith. (Eph. 2:8). That being said, since we are saved by God's grace, we then should be prayerful of those who have yet to experience and receive that grace that covers and cleanses our sins. We should be preachers of the Word. As we pray for opportunities to share God's Word, we shouldn't shrink back when He delivers those people to us. The is a true fact we as believers must come to grips with... there is a Hell and there are people on this earth who will be spending their eternity there. It is my prayer that the Lord would open our hearts for the lost.

Centrifuge Day 5

Well today was the final full day of Centrifuge.  This mornings breakfast was french toast... it was Awesome!  At the "AM Show" I got called on stage to perform the "chicken dance" in front of all the people.  It was then made known that I enjoyed turkeys.  After all the fun however, I did walk away with a cool DVD.  During the leadership quiet time, my wife and I drove down the hill to pick up some needed supplies as well as check voicemail and make a few calls.  When we returned it was time for lunch... Burritos!!!  They were good... I honestly believe I've gained 10 pounds since we've been here.  After lunch I took some time to video each of the youth kids.  I asked them what they thought of camp this year, what were some of the highlights for them, etc.  We got some great responses.  I will be taking all the pictures and video footage and preparing an online video of it.  I will also have a DVD version for anyone who wants it.  Ok well it's 11:58pm and we have to be up at 6:30am in preparation to leave.  More to come soon... good night all!

Centrifuge Day 4

Another fantastic day here at Centrifuge... Breakfast of champions... Biscuits and gravy, eggs, sausage and of course OJ and great coffee.  Tonight's message dealt with our victory in Jesus.  A great quote, "We don't battle for victory, we battle from victory."  How true that is... we have already won the battle in Christ.  Our devotion spoke about the Lord's sufficient grace.  Along with grace comes learning the Word and hiding it in our heart.  Tonight we had a special treat at "Night Life".  Our very own Justine Klein was a "hippie" in an original drama short.  It was a great night of originality complete with "Modern Dance", "Musical Solos", "Drama" and "Percussion".  It was truly a great night to remember.  Tomorrow will start at 6:30am.... It will come quickly so for now... good night.

Centrifuge Day 3

Another great day at Centrifuge camp.  Breakfast came quickly and yes... it was yummy pancakes, eggs, bacon, toast with OJ and coffee.  We had another great time of worship learning new songs that impact our hearts for the Lord.  We're now beginning to see some of the walls fall down around the hearts of our youth.  They are truly amazing people... they have a passion for the Lord. Tonight's devotion dealt with our worth in the Lord... the question was asked, "How much are you worth to the Lord?"... some answers were, "I am worthless", "We are priceless", "I have no idea".  My favorite answer was given by the man who asked the question, Brandon Willette.  He answered the question this way, "How much am I worth to the Lord?", "I am worth the Son of the Living God."  In other words... God saw such worth in us that He allowed His only Son to come and die on the Cross for our sins... Wow... we must be priceless in His eyes.

Well, I finally found out what "Night Life" is all about... I got chosen (sacrificed) by my youth leaders to be a part of the GAME for the evening.  Picture if you will a large room full of people (510 to be exact) all screaming and shouting... Then imagine being called up on stage in front of all those people... That was me about 20 minutes ago with 19 other poor youth leaders on stage.  Our job was simple... to answer questions regarding current events.  Our question was, "Name the person who plays Hanna Montanna."  I still have not idea who that is... and so the punishment for not having the correct answer was to run a mini relay race... I had to place my head on a pole and twist around it 7 times... and then attempt to run to my team.....  After I picked myself off the floor the game was over... our team had shamefully lost... But it was all in good fun.  

Centrifuge Day 2

Well today I had the wonderful opportunity to find out that I left my laptop charger at home...  My battery is at 56% and dropping.  I will continue to journal as long as my laptop allows me to.  Today was a great day.  We woke up around 6:30am and found ourselves in the breakfast line.  What's for breakfast you ask?  Eggs, sausage, fruit, toast, cereal, juice, coffee, etc.  We needed that fuel for the day were to embark on.  After breakfast we had worship and chapel.  After that we broke off into our groups and the adults stayed for our daily information meeting with Pastor Will.  We will be posting pictures and video soon.  The youth are excited to see what God is going to do with them as well as through them.  After lunch (hamburgers) we had some free time to hang out and mingle with other youth we didn't know.  Wow there are a lot of people here!  Tonight was a touching night... Worship started and we were up on our feet clapping and singing praises to our Lord and Savior.  We learned some new songs (I purchased the CD) that spoke to our hearts.  Pastor Will gave a gripping message that ended with a call for salvation.  He showed us the parallels of Moses and the bronze snake (Numbers 21) to the Gospel of Jesus (John 3:16).  It was great to watch the youth respond to his message.  After the message we went and had a devotion led by Brandon Willette and myself (Matt Klein).  We spoke about leaving our sin and starting a fresh life in Christ.  We wanted them to be impacted with the realization that this week will go by quickly...  We wanted them to understand that there is a stereotype that goes along with camp.  "Kids get all hyped up on Fuge, then go back home and two weeks later the "high" is gone!".  We challenged our youth to go beyond the eyes of those who place the stereotype on them... We challenged them to get right with Jesus and to put Him first.  Then we took some time to pray individually.  Now, as I write this journal, 520 youth are in a sanctuary having fun at a service they call "Night Life".  I'm not sure what exactly goes on there but I will journal tomorrow with all the details.  

Centrifuge Day 1

Today was a long one but a good one.  We got on the road at 9:00am... With a brief stop at a local gas station to fill up our cars... and a stop at our local Starbucks to fill up our bellies, we were happy.  After four hours of travel time we finally reached our destination, "Centrifuge".  We had about two hours of free time and then it was time for dinner.  Pizza was the food of choice and of course there were no complaints from the youth.  After dinner we were off to worship.  We entered a large room filled with 510 youth kids.  The room erupted with the sound of music and praise.  After worship we heard a short message from Pastor Will from Acts 3.  Immediately following worship was a leadership meeting for all leaders.  The youth were dismissed based on age to their groups.  After the leadership meeting we gathered with our individual youth groups and had a devotional.  We shared on God's faithfulness.  Then it was free time... I truly believe we will have a great night of sleep as our youth are tired from the day.

Is Hell Eternal?

One of the most heart wrenching topics to talk about is the topic of "Hell"... As a Christian, I have the wonderful hope of spending my eternity with my Savior, Jesus Christ. That being said, there are those who have not accepted Jesus into their heart. We are all faced with the reality that everyone is going to pass from this life to their eternity. It is important to understand that we all have eternal life... the question is, where are you going to spend your eternal life? In Matthew 25:31 we see the story of "the sheep and the goats". We learn that on that final day of judgement we will be separated... those who have accepted Jesus into their hearts and those who did not. If you have accepted Jesus into your heart, a paradise called Heaven awaits you. If you turned your back on Jesus, then unfortunately there is a place called Hell. In Matthew 25:46 it says, "Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life." The word they is referring to those who did not accept Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior. They will spend an eternity in a place call Hell which was prepared for the Devil and his angels. It's important to note that God does not send anyone to Hell. We are all responsible for our own choices... The dictionary defines "eternal" as "endless". Those who choose to go to Hell will have no hope of redemption when they are there. We only get one life to make an eternal choice. If you have questions regarding Hell or Heaven, I would invite you to e-mail me at pastormatt@bellroad.org.

Picture of the Week

Here's two thumbs up!

Having Faith In An Unfaithful World

It's often said, "I have to see it to believe it". Well for some of us this statement rings true. Hebrews chapter 11 tells us, "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see". How many of us have true faith... to yield over full control of our life to an unseen God? It's easy to say, "Yes, I believe in God" or "I have accepted Jesus into my heart". What does all this mean without true faith? In short, it means absolutely nothing. Our faith needs action behind it or else it is dead. Now don't misunderstand what I'm trying to say. Works do not give us salvation, but faith without works is dead (James 2:20). It's what we do with what we believe in that develops our true character in Christ. It's not enough to say, "I believe"... we must take action. What good is having this salvation and not sharing it with those who don't? That's about as absurd as a doctor having the cure for cancer and not telling anyone about it. We who have accepted Jesus Christ into our hearts have a responsibility... We are called to share the Gospel... The Bible tells us to go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation (Mark 16:15). I don't know about you but, I don't want to go to Heaven alone... I want to take as many people with me as I possibly can.

Our Picture of the Week

Is she sleeping or praying? You tell us.

Happy 4th Everyone

Today is the 4th of July... a time to reflect on our freedom. We as Christians can reflect not only on the freedom we have in America, but the freedom that we have in Christ.

Worshiping God when you don't want to

It has been said, "Worship God when things are going great and you will be ignored. Worship God when things are falling apart and people will notice."

How true this is. We often find ourselves focusing on our problems rather than focusing on the our wonderful Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Remember Peter walking on water? (Matthew 14:22-34) Here was an ordinary man with the faith to get out of a boat and walk on water to Jesus. Do you remember what happened to him? He saw the effects of the wind and the crashing of the waves and he got scared and began to sink. The moral of the story... He took his focus off of Jesus and directed it to his problems.

Sometimes it's hard to focus on Jesus when we're going through a trial. But remember, God didn't promise us that we wouldn't go through trials. God promised us that we wouldn't be alone. Hebrews 13:5 tells us that God will never leave us or forsake us. He is with us through the good times and the bad.

When we keep our eyes focused on Jesus, our problems begin to shrink. May God bless you this week!

Do you have a question that needs answering? Give us an e-mail and we'll answer it using the Word of God! Email us at question@thebreakonline.com.

Our picture of the week

Brandon and his trusty hat.