YWOP - Meeting 6 "I am the true Vine"

What a strange thing to say, the Vine? When I think of Vines I think of Tarzan swinging of hanging vines in the jungle. This is definitely not the reference Jesus was making when he spoke about being the True Vine. Check out this video below, and then we'll have a closer look what he meant when these words were spoken in John 15.

Jesus said he was the True Vine, or the stock tree, and we are the branches to be grafted on. Notice how Juan had carefully cut both the scion (branch) and stock tree to allow the grafting to lock in together? Well same thing applies to us. When it comes to committing to a relationship with Jesus, we are saying that we are ready to "cut off" things in our lives in our to join with Him, who has already made the necessary sacrifice for us to join. The cut is precise and is especially designed for you to fulfill.

From here fruit will grow because of our union with the stock tree. You see, the stock tree is sturdy, is able to withstand the onslaught of seasonal conditions, and also has stronger immunity to bugs and diseases. Likewise, our relationship to Christ, there is nothing that comes from us, it all flows from the nutrients supplied by Him to us, that we may produce fruit.

What is this fruit? Galatians 5:22 says "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law."

Notice how this is one fruit that provides all these attributes. We are left with no excuses when we join in a relationship with Christ. We can not say, oh I have love and joy, but the others I don't, and I've been like this my whole life, I can't change. When you've been grafted, these things should have been cut off, and you now receive your life blood from another source, the true vine.

"I am the true vine, with me you can do nothing", absolutely nothing. A scion sitting by itself produces nada, but the one who attaches himself to the one who says he will give us life abundantly will produce fruit beyond measure. Isn't it your desire to be a person who is able to bless others with good fruit? Your family, friends, even strangers. Then start there, begin with going to the true vine who has especially cut wedge just for you.

Shalom,

Dave

YWOP - Meeting 5 - I am the way, the truth and the life

I was relieved to be able to receive rather than five the reading tonight. Jake took us through the book of John 14-17 and broke down john 14:6 in particular.

It's a strange concept for a person to say that He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. We have been conditioned to think of these things as intangible, but the words that Jesus utters, indicate that he is "the", not "a" Way, Truth and the Life. We find the Way, Truth and Life by looking to him? Jake explained how "the way" infers mainly two things. 1. Direction and 2. The How-to. The first hints at a journey, which will require everything needed for a journey. You will assume that he knows where he's going, you will need to follow, and there is a final destination where you will eventually arrive. The second surmise is the "I will show you the way to do it", the how-to. Not only are we going on this journey, we are being shown how to walk this journey. In other words we're not left on our own to work it out for ourselves.

The Truth -Jake read a story about of a Mother's seemingly harmless act (of calling in a "sickie" to work, when she wasn't really) had influenced her young son to reciprocate a similar behaviour to his teacher at school. Encouragingly, this lead her to feel guilty and explain to her son that what she did was wrong, and her son encouraged her Mum to pray for forgiveness. They did, and healing took place immediately. The reading touched suggested there can be no forgiveness when there is no confession. How does one forgive another when the offender shows no sign, or speaks no word of remorse for their offense. The Truth is, God will forgive because he loves us, and will love us no matter what the circumstance is. If you're a parent, do you hate your child after he's/she's broken your favourte vase? Of course your upset, your child needs to acknowledge their responsibility, and discipline should be administered to avoid a "next-time", but do you stop loving them? God forbid! The Truth is we need to confess and be repentant of our failures and short comings because God our Father loves us this very minute, even if you haven't acknowledged that truth.........yet.

In the bible John 10:10, Jesus says, "I will give you life, and life abundantly.". These words mean more than we really realise. We often wake up every morning without one thought as to why our heart is beating, and our respitory system is functioning. According to that text, our life only exists because he allows it! WHOA! This deserves further investigation. But he doesn't stop there he says, I'll give you life abundantly. The life that we live here on earth doesn't need to be the "groundhog" -"day in to day out the same old thinking", life is not about trudging through just so we can grow old and die. Jake gave us an acronym and it goes like this:

J -Jesus: the source of where we can find fullness of life

O -Others: Loving others makes for a whole new perspective in life

Y -Yourself: Knowing that you are loved no matter what, is the life.

I encourage you to read the past blogs, if you haven't already, and even better go to the readings themselves at http:// gcy.bigfoottech.com/MediaPublications/ YouthWeekOfPrayer/tabid/100/ Default.aspx

I truly enjoyed the service from songs to o Jakes talk, prayer group sessions, and closing with our theme song "You are my all in all". This can't be further from the Way, the Truth and the Life, Jesus Christ is mine, and your "all in all". Will you accept the Way, Truth and the Life?

Shalom,

Dave

YWOP - Meeting 4 " I am the good Shepherd"

Well we've completed meeting 4 and it appears we're on a bit of a journey. First we were told that he is the light, and then he is the door, so imagine a street light allowing us to see a door to a particular house, we knock on that door and He opens it to invite us in to eat of the bread. Well now, he says after eating, follow me, "I am the good Shepherd".

Shepherding isn't the flashiest occupation that a typical year 12 student would quickly mention when asked "what will you do when you finish high school?" in fact, for the most part a lot of us don't see much of it at all. As a kid I remember seeing this show come on every Sunday morning about shepherding and that's as much as I'd been exposed to it. It wasn't until Sokha and I went on our honeymoon did I notice how gentle these animals were, and I was able to relate a lot of biblical illustrations this time around.

A number of things we misunderstand about shepherding in bible times:

• The Shepherd lead from the front. By calling and training his sheep with a particular call, they know who they are responding to, and will not follow a stranger.
• The Shepherd protects and takes care of his sheep. By making a clearway, building dams in streams for the sheep to drink, attending to their requirement for aid, (injuries, sickness etc.
• He knew his sheep individually by name and took a stock take every night before laying down.
• And he lays down his life for his sheep. WOW.

The thing is Jesus is a good shepherd, and he actually wants us to emulate his leadership qualities. Are we shepherds, are you leading people to improve their life quality? If you are, do you follow the four points above?

It's amazing how God called two leaders in particular to take up training first as shepherds before he gave them the reins to lead his people. The first is Moses, and the second David who went from shepherd to king.

When one of the sheep was lost, the shepherd would search high and low for the lost sheep. The shepherd would call out in his distinctive call, and the lost sheep would respond as it heard his masters voice. When the shepherd found it's lost sheep, he removes him from the bush, or crevice under a rock, and celebrates all the way back to the pen.

So it is with us, our main objective is to lead the soul back. Not jump on an All-Terrain bike, get the herd dogs and force them back to the fold. We must allow them to get familiar with the distinctive voice, and allow them to call our for the master. We then may respond by leading them through until such time they can identify the voice for themselves.

Shalom,

Dave

YWOP - Meeting 3 "I am the bread of life" John 6:48

As a kid growing up in a suburban corner of Auckland, New Zealand, bread was one the foods that was always in the pantry. It appeared it was the same in all my friends household too (except for my indian and chinese buddies, but they use to have some awesome after school snacks)

It's an easy go to type of food, put on some butter and any of your favorite spreads, and voila you have yourself a snack. It's also easy to access, for most of us we go to the store, exchange money for bread, and you're onto it. I have friends that actually make their bread and it's really yummy.

Well it was the same in Jesus time also, however, bread was not as easily accessible as it is in our time. It was a bit of a chore to make bread. First the wheat had to separated from the stem, then ground to make flour to mix in with other ingredients and then finally have it baked into bread. It would take about two hours to make bread, and their bread contained all the nutrition that wheat was originally made to provide our bodies.

In John 6, Jesus Christ performs the awesome miracle of feeding thousands of people with only 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish provided by a little boy with a will to share. Following this, the people needed more evidence and they hinted at Christ to prove himself by performing a similar miracle in the old testament (providing manna from heaven, didn't Satan do a similar tempation in Matthew 4?). Jesus then proceeds to explain that they need to eat from the flesh, the bread of life, which is him. Well, as you could imagine, they believed Jesus was endorsing cannibalism and inviting them to eat him. But what was he talking about?

A thorough look into the bible will reveal that he was talking about having a through look into the bible. His word is the bread of life. When we partake of the word of Christ we nourish our spiritual being. The bread that Jesus was referring to was his word, the Holy Bible itself.

We are invited to eat from his word and digest on this wholesome bread. So as much as you depended on your breakfast to see you through the day, so it is with you needing his words to sustain your thoughts and behaviour, through the day and life in general.

Why don't you start by reading one of the stories, start with John 1, and you'll soon get to John 6 in no time. Here's a toast to you!

Shalom,

Dave

YWOP - meeting 2 - I am the door - John 10:2

I use to enjoy listening to a famous band called "the doors" in my dark ages. I thought they were pretty clever in touching on the concept that they were trying to teach their audience to "break on through to the other side", which was from reality to the abstract, by means of exploring the psychedelic of the mind via the use of various stimulants. Their lives didn't really give us much to work with because their attempts to break through was always momentary.

Little did I know. Jesus said "i am the door" way back. What did he mean?
Well tonight there were only a small number of us to discuss but we covered a lot of ground. Rob Tila, Temz, Bex, Rymone, Sam and me were able to explore the following, doors are for:

1. Opening: Christ opens himself to us and a life of abundance. John 10:10

2. Shutting: Christ shuts out selfishness and all the friends, characteristics, possessions that weigh us down. Staying warm is another reason to shut the door. Also often we are shut in for our protection but we often misinterpret it as deprivation.

3. Let's in and let's out: only Christ has the say so on this point.

Point is: we are not the door He is! And Rev 3:20 says He "stands at the door and knocks" on the door of our hearts to see if we will open. He doesn't "break on through" he seeks our permission.

What is your response? Not today, be a minute, try to tidy up first? Our only task is to open the door and invite him in. He's keen to come in and help tidy the mess. Listen.......someone's at the door.

Shalom,

Dave

YWOP - Meeting 1 "I am the light of the light of the world"

We started with a prayer at around quarter to five With David doing the honours amongst Rob, Steve and I
After a short wait, a few started to show And by ten past five, we were ready to go

We opened with songs "This little light of mine" and "Give me the Bible". With a quick intro from David and laying down what to expect in the following week, Steve followed with a short prayer and began his talk. Steve shared certain aspects of what it means to be me, I mean who do I say I am when people ask? He then went on to explain how Christ is the light source, and how he commissioned us to be the light of the world. The moon and sun illustration really stood out (refer to David's recent Facebook status'), and also about how cold it gets where Steve stays, and how much he appreciates the sun rising in the morning as it slowly radiates it's light and warmth, until we are totally clothed in it. Much like how Christ works in our lives.

We ended with the song "You are my all in all" and separated into groups to pray. I hope that our youth will form the habit in powerfully holding each other up in prayer.

And these are the events of what happened at our Youth Meeting today..

By Roddy Gairo