Teen Mission Trip, Follow Along!

Many of our teens leave today to serve on a mission trip at the Church of the Nazarene in Culver, OR.  There, they will be promoting and running a 3 day VBS, working on a variety of service projects in the area as well as spending a day on a party boat on Lake Billy Chinook.

While they are away, we invite you to participate in their daily devotionals!  The theme this year is "Untie the Donkey" and focuses on obedience.  You can check back each day for an update and we encourage you to further participate by sending in your answers to the same questions that the teens will be discussing!

You will obey someone or something...
who will it be?

What does it mean to obey?  The Hebrew word for obey is also the same word for “hear” and more specifically “to listen with focus”.  This is the word “Shama”.
  It is a word we will be focusing on as it pertains to our faith in God.



And so, the questions for the week are:
 
Am I obedient to God?

Am I obedient to myself?

Do I obey my parents?

Am I willing to be obedient in both the small and large tasks that God leads me through? 
Why should I obey?

What is the incentive?

What happens if I don't obey?

And, can I find joy in obedience? 

Mark 11:1-10 NIV
Jesus Comes to Jerusalem as King

“As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples, 2 saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and just as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden.  Untie it and bring it here.  3 If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here shortly.’”

4 They went and found a colt outside in the street, tied at a doorway.  As they untied it, 5 some people standing there asked, “What are you doing, untying that colt?”  6 They answered as Jesus had told them to, and the people let them go.  7 When they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks over it, he sat on it.  8 Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches they had cut in the fields.  9 Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!  Blessed is the coming kingdom of our Father David! Hosanna in the highest heaven!”

Obedient in the Little Things:
"Untie the Donkey"

Two kinds of events characterized Christ’s life:  1) the glorious, the historic, and the revolutionary;  and 2) the mundane, down-to-earth, and apparently insignificant.  He brought both sides together and united them. Jesus’ apparently insignificant command to bring a stranger’s donkey to him led to the memorable event we call the Triumphal Entry.

Too often, perhaps, we search for the glorious.  We want the profound and dramatic.  We think of ourselves jumping into a swift river to save a drowning kid—maybe with cameras rolling.  Or maybe some dramatic event will permit us to demonstrate our Christian character.  And while that might happen someday, it’s no excuse for failing to respond to everyday opportunities.

Mark, the writer of this scripture, is telling us, “Don’t wait for a dramatic event. Do the little things NOW!”  So if we find ourselves alongside a stranger and God gives you an opportunity and divine appointment...How will you respond?  God gives us constant opportunities to approach life in obedience and love.  Will you answer both the glorious and mundane moments with obedience and love?