Sweet JAM

It's Sweet

This is Wednesday, and normally we'd be looking forward to youth meeting here at the Crossroads building. Instead, we're going over to Brooks Lake Park for a picnic. Many of our older youth will be going over to the academic awards ceremony at about 7:30 so we probably won't have our regular High School JAM time tonight. We may take time to introduce some of our younger youth to this tonight, depending on how the evening goes.

JAM has been a highlight of my weeks ever since Matt, Brenden and Aaron came back from their first week at Leadership Quest in August 2013. Beginning in the fall of 2013 until last week we've met on Wednesdays with anywhere from 6 to 15 high school students for Bible study. Very sweet!

The youth (one acts as "leader" each week) choose the scriptures we're going to study. Our young people take 20-30 minutes on their own, praying and studying, and come up with Insights, Questions and Applications based on the scripture passage chosen. We then go around and share and then spend time praying. It's always good.

I'm taking a moment now to list some of the Bible passages we've looked at. This is by no means complete. When I find more of the "IQA" sheets I'll add more. (*I put an asterisk ahead of those I added since this was first published. Still more to be found.)

• Ecclesiastes 11:9-10 Advice for the young
• Jeremiah 22:16 To defend the poor and needy is to know God
• Ezekiel 18 Justice, righteousness, repentance
• *Matthew 5:1ff "Blessed are the poor in spirit..."
• Matthew 5:33-48 Jesus' teaching about vows, revenge, loving enemies
• Matthew 6:5-15 Jesus' teaching about prayer & forgiveness, Lord's Prayer
• Matthew 11:28-30 "Come to me... my yoke is easy..."
• Matthew 25:14-30  Parable of the Three Servants
• *Mark 4:1-20 Sower & the Seed
• Luke 15:11-31 Parable of the Loving Father & his two sons
• Luke 16:19-31 Parable of the rich man and Lazarus
• Acts 16:28-30 part of the story of Paul and Silas being put in prison and being released
• Romans 1 Paul's greeting and longing to visit Rome, God's wrath against sin
• *Romans 2 God's standards are the same for everyone. We should not judge.
• *Romans 8:28-30 God is for us
• *Romans 12:17-21 Overcoming evil with good
• First Corinthians 5:57-58 Jesus wins over sin & death so we confidently work for God 
• *First Corinthians 7:1-11 God's plan for marriage
• Ephesians 1:3-14 Praise for spiritual blessings in Christ
• Ephesians 1:15-23 There is more to Jesus than what we think at first.
• Ephesians 3 God's great plan, prayer for spiritual understanding & experience
• Ephesians 4:17-23 Living a new life, very different than the world
• Philippians 2:1-11 Imitating Christ’s humility
• Philippians 3:13-14 "forgetting what is behind and straining forward to what is ahead"
• First Thessalonians 5:12-18 Life in the Holy Spirit
• *First Timothy 4:11-16 The elder's (Paul's) encouragement to Timothy
• *Titus 3:1-11 God's saving kindness leads to peaceful living
• *James 1:1-18 Wisdom and new birth through the Word of Truth
• James 3 Careful speech, true wisdom comes from God

I know there are more. I'll add them as they come to light in my sorting process!

Note: We don't just look at the specific verses listed above. We read and pray around them and let the Holy Spirit speak to us individually and as we talk together.

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