Clayhouse

1 Peter 1:13-25 A call to righteousness

clayhouse — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 19:12:07 +0000

This week we will be walking through the apostle Peters first book to the believers and right in the beginning we see him lead into talks of righteousness and holy living! What does that even mean for us today as Christians and teenagers living in a dark and rebellious generation? Righteousness is something that is for old people…I think? Wrong, God wants our lives to be righteous because that means that our lives are being lived with more concern for the name of God than our own reputation or name.

Peter says that we are called to be holy because that is the right thing to do and it is a good thing…NOT! He calls us to be holy because the God that we serve is holy and we represent our God to the world around us. If we have the Holy Spirit living in us as believers we need to live in such a way that makes the Spirit look good. Peter was calling the Christians of his day to a higher standard, and that standard has not lowered as we have moved into modern times. We must also seek to be righteous as Christ is righteous and holy.

The purpose of this series is to be transformed by the word, so let us start to allow God to move in us and not reject him because we can’t stand to let go of our sin. Isn’t Christ worth so much more than our sin? Yes He is!

Pastor Mark

1 Peter: The Apostle of Hope

clayhouse — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 19:37:27 +0000

Over the next couple of months ClayHouse will be walking through the words that our majestic God inspired His servant Peter to write. Our series will consist of looking at the life of Peter and the letter that he wrote to the Christian dispersion.

Peter has been called the apostle of hope, because these books were written during a time that Christians were living in fear from the persecution that was coming down hard. This was no little thing to be persecuted as a Christian, it meant that your life would change seriously either due to torture or even death. Despite this persecution that Peter was facing alongside those he wrote to, he was continually telling these believers to look to Christ and remember their salvation.

God was not about to let man interfere with His church and Peter was just the guy to go out and encourage and build up the church that he had helped build. Therefore, Peter’s life is more than worth studying and observing as we seek to obey the words that he wrote. Persecution is not dead, it’s just different in this modern world that we live in. My hope is that this series will allow students to see that despite not being able to see Christ in the flesh, they would have a steady faith (1 Peter 1:8-9).

God, may we all look to live more like Peter and the church that gave their lives for the good news of Jesus Christ!

Humbled by His grace, Pastor Mark

Belief

clayhouse — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 19:03:35 +0000

ClayHouse is coming to the end of our series on Christianity Explained, and it seems appropriate for it to end with asking the question, What is a Christian: Believing? So many people today are not even willing to ask this question, but it is by the grace of God that we might as a group be able to address this question and even possibly explain a little about what belief really is.

I recently had a conversation with a few of the leaders in our group and I had to agree that there is a large difference between belief and strong desire. The two can easily be confused and it seems a lot easier to desire something rather than to believe it fully. Therefore, we seek out the truth of the bible as we come to this question of true belief and what it means to trust in God with our whole lives. Just as Christ speaks of Child like faith in Mark 10:15 in the same way must we find our salvation in God. Not with a blind faith or a uncontroled faith, but with a faith that can only end with Jesus as our savior and King.

Belief is coming to the recognition that Christ needs to be our treasure about all else, and believing that in Him satisfaction is possible.

The Resurrection

clayhouse — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 13:58:03 +0000

This week in Clayhouse we will be talking about the most spectacular event that history has ever known! I would like to contend that the raising of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has and will effect more people than any other event in history as we know it. Jesus the son of God coming to live among human beings seeing their sins and imperfections, seeing our faults and blemishes, but then giving His life as the final necessary sacrifice to His Holy Father. But then up from the grave He arose because the devil nor death can hold Jesus. Through this we see the resurrection of our Savior and how grateful we should be!

It is my prayer that we might be able to see the reality that Jesus sets Himself above any other prophet, king, or false god by taking Himself out of the grave and reveling himself to over 500 witnesses. Through these testimonies I will seek to give God the full glory and honor for the miracle that He has done, for His glory and our joy as I tell this true story.

Christianity Explained

clayhouse — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 15:51:15 +0000

What is Christianity? Why do so many people believe in this guy Jesus? Who is Jesus?

These are some of the questions that we will be going through as we look to see Christianity Explained. The goal of this series is to see people come into a relationship with Jesus in a sincere and real way. The whole point of Christianity is to ultimately see Christ glorified, but if we don’t even know why Christ came to this earth, then how can we know how to glorify him? I hope you will join us this Wed. night to ask questions, hear about Jesus from a biblical perspective, and possibly come to find out about the God man who changed this world forever!

Pastor Mark