Do not be afraid. I am The First and the Last. I am the Living one behold I am alive for ever and ever!

Transcription

1 AW Alpha & Omega Do not be afraid. I am The First and the Last. I am the Living one behold I am alive for ever and ever! Rev. 1:17b 19 Volume 1, Issue 1 Oct-Dec 2002 is the quarterly newsletter of Christian Educational Services, Inc., a non-profit organization, and is published in Indianapolis, Indiana. Anita Graeser Indianapolis, IN We are a new generation. We stand at a crossroads where the path of those who went before us meets the path that is yet to come. Through this ministry we are able to have incredible experiences that give us the tools we each need to build a huge fire in our hearts and communities. But we all know too well what happens when we return home and the days get long and lonely The fire starts to fade. This summer, your youth council met to discuss what could be done to minister to this exact issue. At Family Camp, the idea of a youth publication was born. Our vision, is that may bring some insight and inspiration to each of you when the days are long, the road is rough and you are hungry for something that will feed you spiritually. My prayer is that will encourage you to continue to stand up to fight for who you are, so that you can shine your light in this dark world. is a publication strictly for each of us the next generation. CES produces The Sower and The Contender regularly, but there is not anything that is exclusively geared toward us. This is a place to give the CES youth an active voice through words, pictures, and any other expression that might bless other young people in the Body of Christ. If you have something to share, you can voice it in. This will be whatever we make it. Eventually we would like to print this in color, with great graphics. Until then, will continually provide the space to bring to life the real questions, concerns, and ideas that we face as young people. The days may be long. Friends may seem few, and fellowship can sometime seem rough when you are the only person that is under forty. No one said choosing the narrow path would be easy, but sometimes you may wonder why no one warned you that it would be this hard. For this reason, is here for you. We hope to publish every couple of months. The next issue will come out the first of the year. In this issue you will be introduced to the youth council, the secret, a great praise CD, a story of deliverance, an adventure in the great outback, and a youth weekend in December that could change your life. Although the young people in CES are spread out, it is important that we stay connected to inspire and fight for each other. This is it. Sit back, read and be inspired. The Youth Council 2-3 The Baller vs. The Wuss 4 A Story of Deliverance 5 Australia 6 CD Review 6 Live Out Loud 7 Send all questions, comments, concerns, or contributions to: Richard Priebe rcpriebe@eagle.fgcu.edu

2 Introducing your The Mission: We are committed to representing the youth of CES, to open the doors of communication, and to connect and share ideas that enable youth to walk in powerful ministries of Christ-like living. I am committed to seeing our generation come forth as mighty men and women of God, loving this world with the truth of Jesus Christ. I am committed to living my life in such a way that I am an example of the living Word, through both my words and actions. I am committed to seeing young people rise up as confident and committed people who are ready to travel throughout the world with a powerful message. Anita Graeser graesan@earlham.edu Production Editor of My vision is to help build connections and unity for today's generation. I will do everything I can to help equip and empower youth in their own fellowship as well as their walk in school. Nathan Graeser ngraeser@indiana.edu Public Relations and Fellowship Coordinator I will do all that I can to encourage the artistic spiritual growth of the CES youth and to make sure that every person has an outlet for their creativity. I will also fill in the gaps on the youth council and serve everybody with love. I love you guys!!! Suzanne Hall Arts & Music Glorify777@comcast.net I am committed to keeping the teens connected to each other and to the Body of Christ as a whole, so that we all can grow in love for each other and knowledge of the truth. Andrew Klug Tbc_shifter@hotmail.com Technology and Webmaster 2

3 CES Youth Council The Vision: To Equip, empower, and unite today s generation in the truth of Jesus Christ. I want to see the voice of the young people rise up in strength, confidence, and power to step up and show the gifts that God has placed in their hearts. I want to be a role model and a resource to help open doors for others to shine and give to the Lord. Richard Priebe Managing Editor of rcpriebe@eagle.fgcu.edu I am committed to keeping the youth of CES in contact with each other, through regularly scheduled renewing fellowship, so as to build life-long godly relationships. Courtney Rogers Secretary fiveofseven@prodigy.net My commitment, as the President, is to keep the Youth Board focused on our mission and to provide sound leadership for the council as well as provide the CES youth with good examples. I will do my best to make myself a servant to the youth to get things accomplished for the best interests of the Board and for CES. Sam Schoenheit President Redsmite03@yahoo.com I am committed to serving the youth of CES with the gifts and skills God has blessed me with. I am committed to encouraging the youth to rise up and use their talents for the benefit of the Church. I am committed to help equip and unify the youth in the truth of God's Word. And finally, I am committed to walking in the love and light of Jesus Christ. Caitlyn Theisen Treasurer and Arts Firedove5@aol.com 3

4 We want to let you in on. The Secret: A Baller vs. A Wuss Nathan Graeser Indianapolis, IN There is a secret that was kept hidden from ages past. It was written that we might come to find out what The Secret is in our age. Unfortunately, the majority of Christians today have no idea what The Secret is or rather what it even means to them. This secret was never written because it was kept hidden in God for ages (Eph. 3:9-11). In order to understand The Secret we need to start with the beginning of our existence. In order to tell this story, I think it necessary that we give names to the characters in the story. For these purposes Jesus can be deemed Baller and Satan Wuss. In Genesis 3:15, God told the Wuss, There is a Baller coming to kick your face in you may hurt him a little but he will wipe you out. So it is set in motion, the Devil tried everything to stop it. First, he tried to destroy man from where this Baller will come. Just when the entire race was almost corrupted God spared Noah and started over. The Wuss made it his job to try to save himself so he kept trying to wipe out the line of the Baller who would come. Finally when the Baller was born the Wuss tried to kill every baby boy. The Wuss would stop at nothing in order to kill this man who would be his demise. The Wuss tried to kill him in a storm, tried to throw him off a cliff, throw him out, disgrace him, arrest him and all to no avail. The Baller walked all over the Wuss face while he was here. Then when it mattered most he said Father your will be done. After thousands of years of trying to destroy this man, the Wuss finally had his chance. All the chances to kill him that he had missed now were given to him on a silver platter and of course he took them. Think of the suffering that took place after thousands of years of near misses now taken on his precious body. He was beaten beyond recognition and went through more suffering then anyone ever has. It had to be done for us to truly live. He paid the price even though we did nothing for it. Thank God it didn t end there The Baller rose again and conquered death. He threw it in the Devils face. The payment had now been paid. The Secret was to be made known to everyone that believes in his life and resurrection. Paul talks about The Secret in Ephesians 1:9 And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ. The Greek word here is Musterios properly translated as hidden meaning or secret. A mystery is unknown but a secret is known only by a few. The Secret is made known in Ephesians 3 when Paul tells us that through Jesus he has been shown the magnanimity of The Secret. The Secret is that we are now part of the Body of Christ. No longer are there Jews and Gentiles but one Body of Christ who can do the same works and greater works that Christ did. What an amazing gift we have been given. When Jesus was here he healed people and stomped on the Devils head everywhere that he went. Now Jesus has made it possible for us to walk out in the same power that he did. Now instead of the Devil having to just worry about Jesus, he has to worry about millions of people who have the same power that Jesus did. In 1 Corinthians 2:8 it says that if the Devil had known The Secret of the new life that Jesus sacrifice enabled, he would never have crucified him. So what does the Devil try to do but talk us out of everything that we are and can do. He tells us, you can t do anything you are just a kid, don t do that what if someone laughs at you, and let someone else go first then you can go. The Devil tries everything to get us distracted with girls, boys, sports, games, parties, and school. The fact is that we are each a significant threat to the Devil s kingdom. We scare him because if we ever get in touch with who we are and the strength that we have in Christ, we can do real damage. We can heal our friends at school, we can stand in the gap for our friends, we can help save our parents, families, and friends. Let s let our lives be a reminder to Satan to the mistake he made by killing Jesus. Every time that our alarm clock goes off it should make the Wuss cringe. Let s make him scream in anguish when we go to war everyday making battles in the heavenlies. 4

5 A Story of Deliverance Rachel Cunningham Wichita, KS CES Teen Camp during the summer of 2001 taught me about the authority we have over spiritual wickedness. However, last Christmas I became very idle and these works of the flesh, among others, opened the door for the adversary to attack me. I began to fall in a deep depression and struggled to keep a desire to live. One day in a class of mine, I happened to glance at a woman sitting close to me. As I looked I noticed a beautiful reflection of the spirit of Yahweh from her face and a deep dark flinch of hatred overcame me. This disturbed me. However, now I know that I had let darkness in and her light manifested it in me. To the praise of Yahweh, I was soon delivered from this darkness through a workshop ministry called Vision Quest out of California. Later on, this women and I were brought together. On August 9 th I was led by the spirit to stop by her home to fellowship with her and her husband. She began to confide in me some awful attacks the enemy had brought to her life. She said that her bed would shake sometimes at night and also that she sensed a darkness stirring in her that sometimes surfaced. She had cursed at people she dearly loved and at a picture of Jesus Christ, as well as other things. I told her not to be ashamed and that this was not her and that she was not crazy. In Ephesians 6:12 (KJV) Yahweh states For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. She then told me that she wanted to be set free. I sought the Lord s direction and felt like he had given me a green light. I began to pray for her as her husband began to enter the room. The spirit then directed me to read his word. I began reading Luke 10:19-20: Behold! I have given you the authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you. I knew the Father had me stay awake to pray against the attack. I began to dose off in the bed and suddenly felt a light tap on the Bible in between my hands. This gave me encouragement, with joy, to endure and fight for my fellow brothers and sisters. The Word says when you cast a demon out it leaves and comes back with more: (Matthew 12:43-45). You must make sure you withstand and resist him and he will flee from you. The next day we read Psalms and sang songs to the Lord Jesus which can alone force demons to leave (Like David in I Samuel 16:14-23). We read the Word during the day to build up my sister s spiritual strength. Later that evening we watched a movie that was not godly and I believe that this weakened me spiritually and could have greatly harmed my dear sister in such a time of spiritual warfare. We then had a second battle ahead of us. Her husband began testing the spirits (I John 4:1-3) and told his wife to say she loved Jesus Christ and that he was Lord. The darkness was quickly manifested when the enemy showed its filthy face. We then got the Word out and all three of us spoke in tongues together and encouraged her to fight the battle and let go of any sin she was withholding in her heart and to face her fears. She began reading scriptures out loud and we spent another whole day ministering and speaking in tongues, and reading the Word. It was so beautiful to see in manifestation how the demons tremble at the word of Yahweh and His holy children! If Yahweh be for us, who can be against us? Jesus traveled to rescue the man in the tomb from the spiritual wickedness afflicting him. He fearlessly commanded them to leave. Greater works than these we can do because he is with the father. I write this testimony to all you beloved believers to encourage you to stand strong and know that the Devil is a roaring lion seeking who he may devour yet in all things we are more than conquerors! 5

6 A u s t r a l i a Serving God boldly in another country Jenee Klotz Richland, MI I just returned from a mission trip to Australia with Teen Mania, which was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. I've grown so much during my time there and I've seen the Lord work in incredible ways! One of the high points for me was going into the schools. Our team had a hip-hop dance routine that we always performed for the kids, as well as three or four funny skits to get them comfortable. After we performed we would split up and talk to all the children, get to know them, talk about God. They always had a bunch of questions about America too. At one of the schools, I had two opportunities to share my faith and my heart with two groups of girls; that was really awesome because up until that point, I had never shared so openly and honestly with a stranger. I also had prayed the day before that the Lord would open a door for me to be able to share my heart like that with someone. So it was awesome to see how God had answered my prayer and used me to minister to others. While I was there, we did a lot of street ministry, where our team leaders dropped us off in a town and told us to go talk to people for a few hours! At first, this was totally out of my comfort zone. I'm usually pretty shy and introverted, so talking to random people on the street for hours was not something I was real excited about. But after a little while I started to love it! As soon as I put aside how uncomfortable I felt and all the feelings about myself and began to focus on God and reaching His people, I loved meeting all the new people. I really enjoyed getting to know others. So, I've become a lot more bold, which has been an obstacle in my life for a while. Another time that sticks out in my memory is when we were prayer walking around a University. I started to ask the people in my group about speaking in tongues and interpreting. One girl in particular was really curious about it; she wanted to know everything about tongues from the very beginning. So I told her everything I could remember from CES Teen Camp; I gave her verses in the Bible, I explained what it is and what its used for, and then I did it for her because she had never heard anyone speak in tongues before. I was so amazed and blessed that I was able to share with her the information that I've learned from camp. I heard her say a few days later that everyday since then she had been reading about tongues during quiet time. Those were just a few of the great experiences from Down Under! I would encourage everybody, no matter what age, to go on a mission trip. It's an incredible opportunity to spread the love of Jesus Christ and build friendships with other people who love the Lord and want to serve him. Check out this CD Review Richard Priebe Ft Myers, FL Maybe you remember the words, everyday, it is you I live for, from the song Everyday played at Teen Camp and Family Camp this summer. This is a song on a CD that was produced by KAIO, which is my youth group in Ft. Myers, FL. The band that plays each week for the worship part of our youth group recently came out with a CD that they self titled KAIO. The word KAIO is a Greek word that means To Set On Fire and encourages youth to stay on fire for Christ. The group is lead by our youth pasture Doug Reid, a passionate man who put his heart and passion into making the CD. The music is awesome and reaches right to your heart. I highly recommend this CD because it s aimed to lift up our Savior Jesus Christ. The first songs are more upbeat and get you fired up. The second track Everyday, is my favorite. A few other songs on the CD are Breathe, Abide, and Did you feel the mountains tremble. The KAIO CD is only available at my youth group here in Ft. Myers. The CD costs ten dollars and all the money gets donated directly to the KAIO youth group. If you would like to get a copy of the CD please contact me at or send ten dollars, along with a few dollars for shipping costs with a short note to my address: Richard Priebe 2361 Jasper Ave. Ft. Myers, FL

7 LIVE OUT LOUD 7

8 Do you have an inspirational story you would like to share? How about a question you d like to ask? Please send anything that you think would be a blessing to: Christian Educational Services Attn: Alpha & Omega Newsletter 2144 East 52nd Street Indianapolis, IN Or us at: CES@CESonline.org Share our website with everybody! 8