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Over 1900 years ago, Jewish Christians facing persecution and excommunication from the synagogues, left Jerusalem and dispersed among the nations. James was a letter from home; it speaks of life, pain, faith and maturity. We will be diving into this letter together at Live during October and November.

Yesterday at teen church, we studied 3 stories about the kingdom from Matthew 25. Story 3 was about sheep and goats.

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.

A lot of people read this story and think it is about end of time/second coming/judgment. This story is not about the future. It is about now. More specifically, what you are (or aren’t) doing now. Sure, these things have future consequences, but Jesus wants his followers to act, live and love today.

I wanted to leave you with a few videos to keep you thinking about what can be done.

This first video is one we watched together yesterday.

This next video comes from a Forefront Church in Virginia Beach. It highlights a similar project they have undertaken.

Give Water. Give Life. 2010 Project from Forefront Church on Vimeo.

The last video is of a project from Austin, TX this summer. If you live in South Texas, you know how hot it was this summer. The homeless were hit especially hard by this. See what this group did about it.

These examples are just scratching the surface (and really only dealing with thirst). What could we do with the resources we have?

What is the grossest thing you have ever had to do for someone else?

Intelligent Risk Taking from Jay Purcell on Vimeo.

The video above is based on a poem by Darren Gray called “Intelligent Risk Taking.”

We all take risks. Some big. Some small. Some stupid. But how often do we take risks for the benefit of others? Most of our risks are taken out of selfishness, laziness or necessity.

What is the biggest risk you have ever taken for someone else?

Over the next six weeks, we will be looking at what it means to love out loud.

new series starting in teen church july 12.

as we discuss exodus, we are going to talk about the issue of modern day slavery. 27 million people are still in slavery today. it’s estimated that 50% are children.

we want you to be aware of an organization that is doing something about this problem: Loose Change to Loosen Chains.

God has a history of restoration, justice and freedom. God has a history of exodus. we hope to not only experience liberation today, but to bring it to our world. we want exodus. we want to break out. during the months of march and april, we are having a study in exodus.

It is chcc teen ministry’s hope to be a worshiping community of young disciples. During January & February we are discussing 6 commitments each teen can make that will change their lives and our teen ministry.