The Invisibles (2): In Focus

Deuteronomy 10.17-19 (NLT)

17 “For the Lord your God is the God of gods and Lord of lords. He is the great God, the mighty and awesome God, who shows no partiality and cannot be bribed. 18 He ensures that orphans and widows receive justice. He shows love to the foreigners living among you and gives them food and clothing. 19 So you, too, must show love to foreigners, for you yourselves were once foreigners in the land of Egypt. 20 You must fear the Lord your God and worship him and cling to him. Your oaths must be in his name alone. 21 He alone is your God, the only one who is worthy of your praise, the one who has done these mighty miracles that you have seen with your own eyes.

Our response to each other:

1. Show no partiality

2. Look after those in need

3. Love those outside the group

4. Clothe and feed them

Our Response to God:

1. Fear Him

2. Worship Him

3. Cling to Him

4. Praise Him

Micah 6.8 (NIV)

He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

The candles cost $10.00.  The students get $5.00 from every candle they sell.

HS Students—if you sell 20 candles you have paid for The CHILL

MS Students—if you sell 25 candles then you have covered registration cost for camp

Fundraiser runs from November 1st-14th

**Candles will be here in time for Christmas

BOTTOM LINE: At some point in your life, you were invisible—but Jesus saw you.

INTRODUCTION

There are people all around us who go unseen.

TENSION

Some of you have felt invisible before.

At some point in our lives, each one of us will experience what it’s like to be invisible.

TRUTH

“Do you want to get well?” (John 5:6 NIV).

“Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.” Then Jesus said to him: “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked (John 5:7-9 NIV).

Jesus saw those others overlooked. He paid attention to those others thought invisible. He stopped. He took notice. And then He did something.

APPLICATION

Every one of us has actually been the man at the pool.

When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners (Romans 5:6 NLT).

Just like the man at the pool—we are without hope, without strength, without assistance—until Jesus took notice of us.

God didn’t ignore us. He sent His Son to die for us. When we had no one, God sent Jesus so we could have Someone.

Jesus sees the invisibles. He sees us when we’re so desperate and we want to be seen. He sees us when we’re completely unaware of how impossible and hopeless our situation is.

Jesus not only saw the invisibles then, He sees the invisibles now.

LANDING

Everyone could use a connection—if only someone would stop long enough to reach out.

Because of Jesus’ love, because of His actions, we never have to be invisible again.

Isaac was a disco dancer

Noah was a ninja

Emma was Supergirl.

We had a lot of fun and met and re-connected with a lot of neighbors.

This month’s FUSE will feature Pastors Terry and Steve teaching the Parenting Teens Workshop.  Going to be a great time for parents.

One aspect of the evening I am really excited about is our EPIC Chili Cook-off.  So far we have 14 families bringing their best chili which will be voted on by the students and their families.  The family with the most votes will receive a prize package.

Of course Anna is bring chili to represent our family.

Join us tomorrow night from 5:00-7:00 pm.

View Full Album

Thanks Colleen for capturing the personality of our kids along with their faces!

November Teaching Series:  The Invisisbles

We are surrounded by the invisibles. These are people who simply want to know someone cares, someone notices—people who want to know God cares. Some of us would even say we feel that way—invisible to an entire world, daily passing us by. Whether that feeling is a familiar one or not, the reality is that each one of us has felt invisible at one point or another. But we didn’t stay that way. God saw us. He sees the invisibles. And because God took notice of us, we are able to open our eyes to see those around us.

· Week One: Can You See Me? (November 1st)

Sometimes you can stand in a room or walk down a hallway or sit in a chair and no one notices you. It’s not that you have some type of special ability that makes you invisible—people just don’t see you. They know nothing about you—nor do they seem to want to know anything about you. It’s like you’re not even there, even when you are physically in the room. You’re invisible. The good news is Jesus sees invisible people—even those who never realized they were invisible.

· Week Two: In Focus (November 8th)

Some people go unnoticed. There are people in the background of our lives we never see. Maybe it’s the guy at the gas station or the girl at the coffee shop. Maybe it’s the girl sitting in the lunchroom, or the guy hanging out in the back of the youth room. There are people all around us who we treat as invisible. But because of how God has seen us, because of what we’ve experienced personally, our vision is changed. How can we begin to see the people in our lives every day that may normally go overlooked? How can we see the people halfway around the world that go unnoticed? What can we do to bring those around us in focus?

· Week Three: Seeing Beyond the Seen (November 15th)

Sometimes what we really want isn’t what we are asking for. Sometimes what we really need is invisible to us. Thankfully Jesus sees us, really sees us. He sees the obvious physical needs and the more subtle spiritual ones too. And not only does He see them, He cares enough to do something about them both. When it comes to reaching out to the invisibles, when we provide friendship, water, help—sometimes it just isn’t enough. There’s a deeper, spiritual need that can only be met through Jesus Christ. And because of that, we do both—we help with the physical need but point them to Jesus Christ for the spiritual one.

· Week Four:  Service Project (November 22nd)

Excited about partnering up with Tonya Riedel and hosting a Parent’s Night Out for Parent’s with children with disabilities.  We will be meeting at the regular time of 5:00-7:00 pm.  Parents, if you want to join us as we serve the community, we would love to have you there!!

· Week Five:  No EPIC (November 29th)

Because it is the Thanksgiving Holiday weekend, we will NOT have EPIC on November 29^th.