YF Gym Night at St. Patrick's this Friday (30th)
May you continue in that prayer of Philippians last Friday, that you would grow in love, knowledge and depth of insight and have the affection of Christ for others and live a life as a servant of Christ. Some of you have also been reading the corresponding Proverb chapter to each day since starting Sunday school, thanks for doing that in addition to your daily reading and may each of us keep growing in wisdom and pursuing the path that God has called us to. I'm excited that as each of you continues to study Scripture that you will get a more complete picture of who God is. That will continue to flesh itself out on our trips, serve events, coffeehouse, and fellowship. My focused prayer from this week's readings is this: "
Believe that God desires your life to be lived in liberty and dignity. Ask Him to free you from desires, worries, habits that tend to imprison you. In your prayer this week try to come to know that real control over your bondages and yourself is found in surrender to God."
This Friday (30th), we will be meeting at St. Patrick's High School Gym (directions) from 7pm - 10pm. We have access to this fantastic facility with Pure Energy, h2o and CCCO as well! This is free access so feel free to invite any friends that would love to get an evening workout and meet new friends. Please sign the waiver form attached to your e-mail. Bring your running shoes and sports clothes. Just in case, they do not open the supply room, please bring any basketballs, badminton, sports equipment you may have.
This Sunday (2nd), our journey through Proverbs continues... two weeks ago we focused on how essential wisdom is and how the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Last week, we spoke about how God desires to lead us, throughout the series, the Bible will cover every meaningful aspect of daily life is how we should treat others, handle money, which life path to take etc.
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Almighty God, give me rule over indolent desires. Save me from any waste of life. In some devotion set me at liberty from myself and give me to see my life as a charge from you to keep and to understand. Amen." Robert Wicks
Galatians 5: 13-25
Let us know how we can be praying for you or if you want to pray or catch up sometime.
See you all on Friday at St. Pat's.
YF Bible Study in Philippians this Friday (23rd) Proverbs (25th)
Thanks for an amazing weekend! The camp was fantastic and your participation was great even if there were a few sleepy head nods during that last Sunday session :) God's desire to move you on to spiritual maturity is stronger than you believe. If you continue to seek His face then he will shape you into the image of Himself. I was reading this quote in my devotional this morning: "Prayer is the way in which the soul is infused by the power of the Spirit. If one continues to pray in confidence and strength despite all outer diversions and inner discouragements, there will be a gradual change in one's disposition. The effect is neither rapid nor magical - growth, whether physical or spiritual, takes time and is unobtrusive when viewed on a day to day basis..." Things that would shatter us emotionally or cause jealousy and anger will begin to fade away and be replaced by genuine compassion and care. If you have time in addition to your daily quiet time: Ps 37; Phil 3:12-21; 1 John 2:3-17
This Friday (23rd), we will begin our Bible study series in the book of Philippians. Paul wrote this letter from prison and was deeply committed and thankful to the church in Philippi. Throughout this series, our goal is that each of us will learn how we can tell the difference between true joy and happiness and how true joy comes from knowing and living for Christ. Please bring your Bibles, 4 color pens and a willingness to participate and grow.
Next Friday (30th), CCCO will have access to the St. Patrick's gym again! This is a fantastic facility with lots of equipment for almost any sport you would want to play, feel free to invite friends - it's free!
This Sunday (25th), our journey through Proverbs continues... we started last week with a focus on how essential wisdom is and how the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Throughout the series, the Bible will cover every meaningful aspect of daily life is how we should treat others, handle money, which life path to take etc.
As always, let us know how you are doing, some of you are new to YF and I want to emphasize how real, down to earth our team of leaders is. You can ask us questions about life, faith etc and we'd be glad to know how we can pray for you. One verse that really helps shape my view on fellowship and discipleship is 1 Thess 2:8 "We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us."
See you all on Friday!
Everything you need to know about Youth Fall Retreat this Weekend (16th-18th)
That was a hilarious game on Friday! The teams did well (for the most part, haha) as a lot of riddles were solved and loads of screaming and running away from ninjas. Congrats to the winning team, you have explored Chinatown well!
This weekend is the Fall Retreat! We already have 22 Sr. High students registered and the Jr. High forms have been building up too! We are looking forward to a great weekend of spiritual growth, fellowship and fun! The junior and senior high will join for the activities and free time but will have separate teaching times. YF will be focusing on praying like Jesus as the Bible teaches as well as setting aside time to listen to the Lord and reflect on Scripture. Pure Energy will focus on Jesus and the significance of the resurrection.
Important details: 1) Departure times: Rides will leave from Church around 5:45pm on Friday (16th) and we hope to arrive at Galilee before 7:30pm. We'll leave Galilee at 2:00pm on Sunday to be back at church before 4pm.
2) Dinner is NOT provided on Friday night (there will be a snack though), Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner is provided on Saturday with Breakfast and Lunch on Sunday as well.
3) Forms and registration fee ($90 to 'CCCO' memo: Youth Fall Retreat) is still needed from those who are coming but have not yet submitted them.
Things to Bring (and NOT to bring): Essential things to bring: Bible, pens, papers, special health devices, sleeping bags, warm clothes, outdoor clothes (and change of clothes depending on weather), towels, toiletries, worship music (guitars if leading), form/cheques if you forgot, bathing suit - if you are crazy
Additional things: board games, group games, basketballs, footballs, baseball gloves and balls etc.
Things NOT to bring: ipods, media players (videos, music, movies etc.)
If you have any additional questions, please e-mail me as soon as possible or call the church office. An alternate number is in your e-mail.
See you all this weekend (5:45pm at church on Friday!)
YF Sherlock Holmes Scavenger Hunt this Friday (9th) & Return Fall Retreat forms
Hope everyone had a refreshing long weekend to spend with family, a lot of the grads are also settling in to their new campuses. Summers are always great times to fellowship, do mission trips, service opportunities and catching up but it's time to look forward to a fresh Fall and new school year! We have a youth pastors meeting to set out some city wide opportunities for the year and Jr. High meeting as well to set out PE calendars and that's always a reminder for me that Fall is here (because at YF we don't stop :)
This Friday (9th) please meet at church (Rm. 202) no later than 7:30pm to begin our Sherlock Holmes (clues oriented) scavenger hunt this Friday (9th). It'll be an adventure around Chinatown. Each team will be given a package of photo clues with questions on each that need to be answered. The team that completes the most photo clues will win but there are some ninja's that you'll have to watch out for... they'll dock you some points if they catch you split up or unaware of your surroundings. We'll get back later for refreshments and fellowship. This is just a fun way to kick off our Fall, welcome our new students and begin our Fall semester together.
Also, return your Fall retreat forms this Friday at YF! Fall Retreat (16th - 18th) is an amazing time to draw closer to the Lord and each other. Our desire is to learn to pray like Jesus prayed. He modeled an intimate relationship with God and our time in Scripture will teach us more about relying on the Lord and acknowledging Him in all our ways! Retreats are always refreshing and FUN too as we can enjoy lots of activity and free time! It's also refreshing to get away from the internet, video games and constant distractions that often provide little value to our lives. We hope to see all of you there, bring your forms on Friday!
Sunday school will also begin this Sunday (11th) in Rm. 202 following our English service.
See you all on Friday! Let us know how we can be praying for you.
A prayer from my devotional to focus on this week: "A
lmighty God, my Father, I call upon You and request of You that Your love may be found in me Your servant. I know not how to love as I ought; but You who are Love can reveal it unto me. Show me the way to Love. Amen." God will teach us how to truly love others if that is our desire. Is it? If you'd like read Psalm 82 along with your regular Scripture reading each day this week.
