Heartland, A Church Connected (Mississauga, Brampton, Milton, Oakville, Toronto)

Engage with God’s Word

AC — Wed, 15 May 2013 18:57:17 +0000

At Heartland Student Ministries, we believe so much in the importance of engaging with God’s word. We want you to do it on a daily basis. If you’re not, don’t fear. You can start engaging with God’s word today.Try a reading plan. If you haven’t read your Bible in a while then I encourage you to commit to a seven day reading plan. That’s just one week and see what God speaks to you. Here are some seven day reading plans provided by YouVersion:

Tenth Avenue North – The Overflow Devo includes exclusive video content from the band, with each day explaining the biblical inspiration behind songs from their album The Struggle.
Confidence shows you how special God’s Word says you are and helps you explore the full potential of the unique way He fashioned you.
Restart: Leading with Confidence takes you through foundational promises of God’s Word to help you become the leader He longs for you to be—both for you and for those you serve.
Deeper Into Scripture: A 7-Day Plan uses a specific methodology to lock God’s Word into your heart and mind, instructing, encouraging, and equipping you with His promises.

Is the fact that you don’t like to read your excuse for not engaging in God’s word? Then check out this link from YouVersion that will give you some different ideas on how you can engage with God’s word: https://s3.amazonaws.com/web-assets.youversion.com/html-email/2013-0425-4tips/4+tips.html.

I hope this inspires you to engage in God’s word. It will change your life!

What’s so Important?

AC — Tue, 07 May 2013 19:45:22 +0000

Here is some interesting thoughts about priorities and schedules:

Acts 3:1 – One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer.

Peter and John were going to the temple to talk with God. It was an important part of who they were. It was an important part of church life. They could have walked past the beggar because they had an important task that day to complete. They could have thought about how they had a meeting to get to and the beggar was just an obstacle in the way. But they didn’t! They saw a man in need and they reached out to him and met that need. Meeting the need of the beggar and allowing him to experience God’s presence was more important than their schedules. I once heard it said, “Don’t walk past an image bearer in need to tell God how much you love him.” Don’t get me wrong, I’m not down playing the importance of prayer. If anything, I think the church needs more prayer than ever before. We must always be aware of those in need whether we are rushing to get to school, work, sports or church. We cannot let our own schedules dominate our lives so that we are unable to meet needs as they arise.

God, help us to be aware of the needs of those around us and to meet them through your Spirit working in us. AMEN.

Before I Say “See You Later”

AC — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 15:41:06 +0000

Three months ago I moved to a new city, attended a new church and joined a new youth group. I was excited and nervous at the same time, but now as I am writing this on my last day at HSM I can definitely say this was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had. Meeting all of you at Heartland was truly life changing and before I say “see you later,” I want to leave you with one last challenge.
Life isn’t easy. I remember high school and I can attest that it wasn’t a breeze. I understand what it feels like to be a Christian trying to make a difference in a place full of obstacles, defiance, and unknowns. Sometimes it even felt impossible. But here’s the awesome thing: As followers of Christ we can remove two letters from the word impossible because with God anything is POSSIBLE. Don’t believe me? Check this out… 1 Corinthians 10:13 says, “No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; he’ll never let you be pushed past your limit; he’ll always be there to help you come through it.” With God in your life no test will ever be too hard, no bully will ever be too mean and no attempt at sharing the good news will ever be too scary. God will NEVER let you down. So my challenge to you is to go deeper with God and to let Him help you do the impossible.

See you later,

Ashley Sture

Easter

AC — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 01:20:32 +0000

This is a guest blog post by Alyssa Guiste:

Romans 5:8 – ”God demonstrates his own love for us through this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

So at Easter time we celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, but do we really understand what that means for us?

We as sinners deserve eternal condemnation, but through Jesus’ love and sacrifice we have been given the chance for eternal life! Jesus didn’t have to suffer on that cross for our sins, but he chose to out of his love for us. We need to follow Christ’s example and show that same love to others, especially to those who sin against us.

It doesn’t matter what we’ve done or what has happened in our lives, God loves us all the same. If we choose to repent and accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour, he has already washed our sins white as snow! So don’t let the chocolate bunnies and Easter egg hunts distract you from what Jesus has done for you, which is what Easter is all about!

Lord Jesus, may we never forget your love for us or take that love for granted. I pray that we would always remember the love you showed us through your sacrifice, and that we would show that great love to others, even our enemies. We thank you for what you’ve done for us. Amen.

Listen to your Momma

AC — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 02:53:59 +0000

I was looking back at some journal entries from the past and found this one from 4 years ago. I thought it was valuable advice, so I am posting it here for your to read. Side note: this is one of the benefits of journalling. You can go back through the past and remember what God has spoken to you.

So I’ve started this new way of reading the Bible (new for me anyway…) I’ve been reading through Proverbs matching up the day of the month with the chapter, but instead of reading the whole chapter I read until something sticks out to me. It doesn’t matter whether its the whole chapter or just the first verse. In the last 3 days, I have only made it through the first verse once!!
Last night, I was reading Proverbs 31 and it starts like this “The sayings of King Lemuel – an oracle his mother taught him.” I couldn’t go past this verse. What do you think of when you think of a King?? I normally think of a wise man who rules his kingdom and makes big important decisions and says big important things. But of all the things that King Lemuel did and said and all the important people he knew, what memory do we have of his life..a saying of his momma…something he remembered from childhood.
I’ve benefited from having an awesome mom who loves and cares for me and, although it took time, I realized how wise she really was. I don’t know how you much you pay attention to what your moms says, but just like King Lemuel, I would start paying a little closer attention to her because she knows a lot more than you!!

Fear vs. Courage

AC — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 21:41:26 +0000

Acts 9:26- 27 – “When Saul came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple. But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles.”

Two quick thoughts about fear after reading these verses:

1) The disciples didn’t accept Saul (Paul) into their group because they were afraid. Their fear paralyzed them from doing the right thing, yet God still used them to amazing things. This group of disciples included Peter whom Jesus called the rock on which He would build His church. Even Peter was afraid of Paul and made the wrong choice. If the disciples could go through bouts of fear and still be used by God then there is still hope for us when we are afraid. Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not trying to give you an excuse to wallow in your fears, but I don’t want you to let your fears discourage you from becoming the person God desires you to become! The same goes for me!

2) If Barnabus hadn’t had the courage to approach Paul and bring him to the disciples, what would have happened to the church? Would the gospel have spread as far and as fast as it did without Paul’s travelling? Would we have the New Testament that we have today or would Paul not have written those books? When we step out in courage and do the right thing, the effects reach further than we realize. Barnabus’s courageous step towards Paul had a ripple effect through all of the people Paul reached in his missionary travels. We never know what will come about when we act with courage!

God, may you remind us that you did not give us a Spirit of fear. May you increase courage in our lives and help us to have more courage to do the right thing and follow you! Amen.

Fan or Follower?

AC — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 18:01:07 +0000

We’ve just come back from the Encounter retreat. It was a phenomenal weekend. If you didn’t get the opportunity to join us, or maybe you were there and just need a reminder here is a recap of what we talked about!

The whole weekend was based around Jesus wanting to define our relationship with him. He wants to know where we stand and figure out if we are just fans (enthusiastic observers by definition) or if we are truly followers of him.

Encounter #1

Define the Relationship Question: Do you know Jesus or do you just know about Jesus?

Fans know a lot about their celebrity crushes, but they don’t actually know them. In the same way we can know all about Jesus, have heard the stories or his miracles, his birth, death and resurrection, but that doesn’t mean we know him.

Followers have an intimate relationship with Jesus. They are in daily communication with him and know him personally. They can still have a lot of knowledge about him (which is good), but they also know him.

Encounter #2

Define the Relationship Question: Are you focused on the outside or the inside?

Fans are focused on the outside. They are focused on rules and laws. They follow those really well, but they are aiming at the wrong target. They end up weighed down by guilt trying to do enough to please God.

Followers are focused on the inside. They focus on relationship with Jesus rather than rules and love rather than laws. They understand God’s grace and know that Jesus has already done everything to make us right before God.

Encounter #3

Define the Relationship Question: Is Jesus your one of many or your one and only?

Fans want Jesus to be one of many loves in their lives. They might even want Jesus to be the first of many loves in their lives, but God wants our whole hearts. They don’t want Jesus to interfere with their lives.

Followers make Jesus their one and only. There can be no competition in your life with Jesus. They understand that following Jesus comes with a cost, but they are willing to deal with it.

Sunday Morning

We had an unscheduled talk for 3 or 4 minutes Sunday morning about our experiences on the retreat. I emphasized that while the retreat was a special time away to meet with God, we don’t need to wait until the next retreat to meet with him again. We can do it at home in our bedrooms, we can do it on Friday night at youth, we can do it Sunday mornings at church – God is bigger than our retreat and we can meet with him wherever we are.

Looking forward to continuing the retreat this Friday night when we define the relationship one last time.

Some Resources

AC — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 04:57:57 +0000

We don’t just want to tell you why you need to connect with God, we want to give you resources to do it. So here are a couple of resources that can help:

YouVersion – Download the Bible App at www.YouVersion.com. Once you download it to your smart device, you can have the Bible with you wherever you go. Don’t like to read? That’s no excuse because you can listen to the Bible with this app too!

Memverse – Want help memorizing Scripture and keeping track of your memory verses. Go to www.memverse.com. You can sign up for free and start learning memory verses. You rate yourself on how you’re doing and the website decides for you how often you should review your memory verses!

Everyday Faith – Need some ideas on what to pray about. Go to http://everydayfaith.ca/pray/prayer-points/ for monthly prayer ideas and verses to pray through.

Ignite Your Faith – Need a website where you can find articles about the type of stuff you’re going through. Check out Ignite your Faith at http://www.christianitytoday.com/iyf/

Check a couple of these resources out and let me know if they are useful to you! Feel free to comment below if you have a resource of your own that you recommend.

Why Should I Memorize the Bible?

AC — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 20:51:27 +0000

You don’t hear talk of memorizing Scripture too often these days, but it is a super helpful way to grow in your relationship with Christ.

Here are three quick reasons why you should memorize Scripture:

1) It helps you to not to sin.

You might be saying, “Seriously?! Help me not to sin – I’d like to see that!” Well, the Bible is very clear about it. It says, “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you” (Psalm 119:11). If you memorize Scripture, God will bring to mind the things you’ve memorized when you are faced with temptation. I can’t count the number of times God has brought a verse to mind like Philippians 4:8, when I’ve been tempted to think about impure things or untrue things. It’s a huge help!

2) It can help you share your faith.

Now this might seem a little cliché, but it’s true. In fact, the Bible says, “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have” (1 Peter 3:15). When we memorize Scripture we are following a direct command of the Bible to be prepared to give reasons for what we believe. One time I had a friend ask me how I knew the Bible was true and why I don’t believe there are new teachings that should be added to the Bible. I answered the question for them because I knew what the Bible says in Galatians 1:8.

3) It can help you encourage others.

When you hear a friend is going through a tough time, it’s a huge encouragement when you can share a verse from the Bible with them to give them some encouragement. In Hebrews 10, we are told to spur one another on towards love and good news and to encourage one another! What better way to offer encouragement to a brother or sister in Christ than to remind them of God’s promises in the Bible.

I hope these reasons inspire you to memorize a few verses!

Next time I’ll give you some info about an online tool to help you with memorizing Scripture!

Somethings In Life Are Free

AC — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 15:46:56 +0000

Here is an example of the RAP method from something I read this morning. I hope it helps you understand the RAP method, but I also hope it challenges you in the same way it challenges me.

READ- Matthew 10:8 – Freely you have received; freely give.

APPLY – God has given to me freely; yet, I withhold from those around me. God’s has freely given me forgiveness, by paying the ultimate cost himself. He didn’t wait for our apologies before he paid the cost, he didn’t wait for a change of heart or a change in our actions before he paid the price. No. Instead, Jesus went to the cross for each and every one of us knowing that we would betray him, knowing that we would remain in our sinful patterns, knowing we would be stubborn and slow (or even unwilling) to change. Yet, how often do I expect people to apologize or change their attitude or meet my requirements before I give them my forgiveness? How often do I think people need to be worthy of my forgiveness? I don’t have time to count that high. There needs to be a change. Forgiveness should flow from me towards others freely, even if it costs me something, because that’s what Jesus did.

God is calling us to give freely to others, because we have received freely from him. Let’s not hold back from others that which we have received so freely and abundantly from Jesus.

PRAY – God, help me to freely give forgiveness to those who hurt, betray or sin against me. May I be willing to forgive others, just as Christ forgave me. Amen.