January 23, 2012


Review of Friday (Jan 13)- 21 Day Challenge


The Battle Against Temptation Won at the Edge of a Blade

By: Dwight Bennett


When I was little, and before I discovered movie editing, I used to play baseball. But I couldn't always find someone to play with (especially in winter), so I played the roof game. (You Throw a ball up your roof and catch it when it rolls down) My deck was only about as wide as our dorm rooms, so the throw and catch made for a pretty lame game. It was late winter, about as cold as it is now, and there was a snow pile level to my deck. My dad told me to only throw from the deck and not from the snow piles. But I was tempted to throw from a distance, so I did. My next throw was a little bit too low. Unfortunately my house had big windows. But fortunately I missed them. But I did hit our thermometer and busted it off the wall of our house. Then came the wrath of my dad...


Have you ever been tempted before? Yes? And out of those who have been tempted, have you ever given into temptation? Good, then perhaps what I say today can apply to some of you out there. How can we overcome temptation? Run from it? maybe. Fight it? maybe. Sit there and hope it will go away? probably not a good idea...What I would like to suggest is that we get our game plan from the only one who has never given into temptation. which is... (wait for someone to say 'Jesus')


Yes, Jesus!


In Matthew we get a great glimpse of how the perfect example setter, fights temptation. (read Matthew 4:1-11) Notice what Jesus does. It's simple really, he quotes scripture. Tell me, have many of you read the book Surprised by Jesus by Tim Stafford? I was read that book my first year and it explained Jesus' method of overcoming temptation in the most encouraging way I've ever heard it. Tim writes,
"He does not argue with him or rise up and assert himself as God's Son. What Jesus does is what every one of us is capable of doing, he quotes scripture. But not only does Jesus just quote scripture, but he quotes it intelligently, it is evident that he studied and memorized the scripture to meet the situation he faced. This teaches us that in regards to fighting off temptation, the response must be formed long before the moment. Jesus did what you and I could have done, he did not argue with Satan. He simply let the scriptures speak for him. Jesus shows us through example that we must know scripture, not to think that we are capable of fighting off temptation ourselves because that will fail us."


What I understood from Tim is that we cannot fight off Satan by ourselves. You might get a lucky hit in, dodge a few shots, but eventually, you will fail. Satan's coming at you with everything he's got and if you come to the battle unarmed, it's only a matter of time. What you need to bring is a weapon. But what kind of weapon do you need? Let's read about it... (read Ephesians 6:14-17)


I would like to suggest that the battle against temptation is won at the edge of a blade. the sword of the spirit. the word of God. Jesus shows us this. It was not his incredible willpower, his physical resilience, or his amazing hairstyle that fought off temptation. He let the scriptures speak for him.


Do any of you remember the Cotton Patch Gospel? (if not, we're doing it once more) Do you remember when Jesus was on top of the temple and was about to jump? He almost did, Geronimo-OH!... it also says do not test the Lord your God! He doesn't do anything impossible, he simply quotes scripture, lets his sword do the talking.


Going back to what Tim Stafford said, he says that Jesus, no doubt, had scripture studied and memorized so that he could fight temptation. He also says that we are capable of doing this. Some of you may be a little bit worried... "wait, I need to both study and memorize all the scriptures!?" Now before you get all worked up and discouraged, let me suggest something not as intensive.


Stay consistent in the word. Stay diligent. Stay consistent. Stay in the word.


In our Mark Mod, Tim Geddert laid out his strategy for memorizing mass amounts of scripture. It's simple really, read one verse till you've memorized it. then move on to the next verse. but don't go back to the previous verse even if you feel you've "forgotten it". Keep memorizing new verses, until you get to the end of your section. then start over. Sounds crazy right. wrong! It works. By reading it through so many times, the words sink in.


Now, think if you stayed in the word, consistently. would you not have words sink in to the point where you can recall them, and even wield them like a sword?


This is the point of my talk where I feel like I'm preaching to myself. So I apologize if you can't relate at all to this next part... November 11, 2011, at 11:11pm... Where were you? That was the day that a video game called Skyrim came out.


For the many of you who have no idea what that is, it's a game set in a medieval like setting in which you start out as a prisoner who is given a second chance in life. You start out with nothing and slowly gain armor, weapons, and skills throughout the course of the game. Your Goal: Kill Dragons. So there I was, playing this game. I was about to embark on a mission...The goal? give up all your equipment to be smuggled inside a heavily guarded embassy. pose as a party guest to get inside. retrieve your equipment, then retrieve some secret documents then fight your way from the inside out. I give up all my weapons and armor to be smuggled inside this building. Just then... a dragon attacks. I was caught off guard, I had no defense, no offense. you can guess what happened. As comical, or as completely unrelated as you probably think this is. I thought about it later as I was thinking through this sword of the spirit analogy. I was caught off guard! I had no sword with me! I had lost before I even began... I'm not talking about the game anymore... I have stood toe to toe with a 'dragon' in real life. and I didn't have God's word in my sheath. You can guess what happened.


Have you ever been caught off guard? been tempted, and felt as if you had no chance at resisting, so you gave up without even a fight? In real life, if a monstrous beast attacked me and I had no weapon to fight it, I would give up. here's no point in fighting. I don't think the spiritual world is much different!


Stay in the word. Arm yourself with the sword of the spirit. Let it do the fighting for you. It can. Jesus shows us that.


Let us go back to the young me... playing catch with himself. I hear a voice that says, "hey, this is getting boring, you should forget about what your dad said and throw the ball from farther away!" but imagine that this time, I had God's word in my sheath. I had the sword of the spirit with me. NO! The Bible says to honor thy Father and Mother! Begone Satan! how much better of an ending is that?


For those of you who are already wielding the sword of the spirit, God bless you! And for those of you who find themselves drifting from the word, I would like to challenge and encourage you to stay rooted in scripture. Take time to read scripture, to meditate on his word, and to be still. Our lives can get busy, and sometimes they are not busy, but what we seem to ALWAYS be able to do, is make excuses...


Have any of you heard of David Runcorn? He wrote a book called "A Center of Quiet: Hearing God when Life is Noisy" I've never read the book, I've never even seen the book, but it was quoted in our Mark textbook called "Trained by Jesus". He writes about Jesus taking time out of his busy life, "This was the secret of Jesus' life. This was where he found strength to follow the Father's will. When we follow him we must copy not only his words and actions but his silence and moments of solitary withdrawing as well. If Jesus needed those times, then we certainly need them more! Like the Disciples we follow him into the desert places. And in our turn, we must learn from him how to be alone and still."


I don't know if you guys remember Tim Geddert's talk on Monday. But he talked about new year's resolutions. And one of his points in keeping a resolution was to make Realistic Goals. Over the past few weeks Dave Carey, the Male RA's and I were talking about a 21 Day challenge. It is a challenge to stay diligently rooted in the word for 21 days. But the great thing about this is that it is not one of those things that you have to do by yourself. We will be taking this challenge on as a community. So I would like to invite Dave up to explain the 21 day challenge... (or invite you to read more, in this case...)


21 Day Challenge - Dave Carey

First, let me give you some background... forgive the length - I did make an attempt to keep it brief.



Some time near the end of August/early September I heard a message that challenged be significantly to (like Martha) spend more time "at the feet of Jesus". After some time of wrestling and another inspiring sermon by our own Joy Nokinsky, I was struck that intimacy does not just happen but it takes time as with any relationship being at the feet of Jesus needs to start with some simple dialogue and so I resolved to begin by having coffee every morning with Jesus. My hope was that this discipline of a daily coffee time with God would turn into something deeper than what I have understood as "devotions" my hope was that this would develop into some level of intimacy that would help me understand what it really means to be at the feet of Jesus. While I don't think I have a good grasp on what that really means yet I have learned a lot about this discipline and have experienced some real change in my life as a result of spending this time with God... (sorry - I'll stop there cause I wanted to keep this brief)


Okay so here's the challenge part:


As part of this process I decided to pick up Wayne Cordeiro's book "The Divine Mentor". In his book he speaks of his church's 20-20 program as well as a 20-20-20 program. Simply put 20min of reading from the Word (following whatever reading plan you choose as long as it is a plan and not just the close your eyes and point method), followed by 20min of journalling about whatever stood out to you from your reading. In the 20-20-20 program you simply add another 20min of sharing with a small group.


Adopting this 20-20 program into my life (as with most good things in our lives) I began to wish others could have this experience as well and starting thinking about a way to encourage our students to try this out for themselves. So I ran it by my RAs and Student Development and they liked the idea so I plan, on this Friday during Selah (after Dwight speaks on using the Sword), to issue a 21 day challenge to spend at least 40 minutes each day reading in and reflecting on the Word.


Here are some questions I'm sure your asking right now:


Why 21 days? - No real significant reason other then that "they" say it takes 21 days to make a habit.


When do the 21 days start? - Ideally that day. If the 21 days start this Friday (the 13th), then the 21 days would be complete the day Youth Advance begins.


Does it have to follow the 20-20 or 20-20-20 format? No - this is only a challenge so you are free to take it or leave it or adapt it as you see fit. The idea of the challenge is really about two things. Reading the word and reflecting on what you read (allowing the Spirit to speak). Too often I have found myself reading the Bible and just getting knowledge and history out of it but since I added this journalling part it have notice that I am convicted more often and find more directly applicable truth for my life. That being said, I know we are all different so if you think you have a better system then go for it. (I would just encourage you to make sure it's daily and that you spend quality time in the Bible rather than only reading a few minutes each day from a devotional book)


Whatever you can make work would be great - but please take some time to think through being a part of the challenge and join us for 21 days in the Word.


Thanks for reading through this and considering the challenge.

January 23, 2012

Do you have an alumni update, feature, photo, announcement, news item, etc?  Please send the information and/or idea to Daniella (SDA) at sdassistant@bethany.sk.ca.

The Lord Will Provide
by Kaylee Buhler

When I was young and foolish (only five short years ago!) I got my first tattoo. Three inches long, scrawled across my left calf, in Hebrew, it reads: The Lord Will Provide. I was inked at a time in my life when I was worrying a lot about finances—specifically how I was going to pay for my post-secondary education. Well, let me tell you, spending seventy dollars on this permanent reminder sure didn’t help my money problem! However, it has caused me to remember, time and time again, that The Lord Will Provide.


Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about God’s provision in my life—in more ways than just financial. To name a few, He’s provided me with a wonderful place to live, a job I love, great friends, a wonderful family (the newest addition being a three month old nephew!), and so many other things that would take more than the 400 words I was given here! However, one way that God has provided stands out above the rest.

Let me tell you a little story that takes place a little over four years ago. I am driving with three friends from Bethany to Manitoba (where my parents live) for Christmas break. We’re tired, visibility is poor and it’s late. Around nine o’clock, on the Trans Canada Highway, somewhere between Whitewood and Moosomin, a semi is jackknifed across the road. Let’s pause this story for a second and continue with a different one.

Sometime around nine o’clock in the evening, on a farm between Boissevain and Killarney, Manitoba, my mom is home wrapping a CD player she bought for my cassette playing Dodge Neon. All of a sudden, she has a vision that she’s back at the store, begging them to let her return it because her daughter was in a fatal semi accident. Then, she snaps back to reality and hits her knees praying.

Back to story one. My Dodge Neon flies into the front of the semi at 100 kilometers an hour. Sitting in the passenger seat, I take the brunt of the blow.

Story two. The phone rings. On the other end, my mom hears a stranger telling her that her daughter was just in a car accident. The ambulance is on its way, but she is going to be fine.

An act of God, a concussion, a nasty gash to the head and fifteen stitches (without freezing, I might add!) later my dad was sitting beside me at Moosomin Union Hospital, ready to take me home and celebrate Christmas as a family—all members alive and decently well.

I know this story sounds more like one of God’s protection than His provision, but for me, it was all about provision. At that point in my life, I would have been happy if that semi accident would have been fatal. I was furious with God for months afterwards for giving up such an obvious opportunity. Now, I realize that this was God’s way of opening my eyes to the fact that He wasn’t done with me yet. There was still more He wanted to do in and through my life. He provided me with the realization of my significance to Him—and a sweet scar to always remind me!