Fight the Good Fight!!

Well this week we started looking at our theme for this year which is "Fight the Good Fight". Our Battalion theme verse is 1 Timothy 6:11-12, which says "But you man of God, flee from all of this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses."

So what does that mean to fight the good fight? How can we do that and pursue love and gentleness at the same time? Who and/or what are we fighting against? What tools, weapons or training do we have to be ready to fight? I hope that this year we will look at some answers to these questions and many more.


This week we read Exodus 17:8-16. The story of the Amalekites coming to attack the Israelites and how Moses instructed Joshua to lead the army into battle and then went to the top of the overlooking hill. Moses held the staff of God in the air and as long as he held it up Israel would win, if he let it lower then the Amalekites would win. Eventually Moses became tired and his friends Aaron and Hur held his arms up until night when the battle ended, and Israel was victorious. Clearly God was the reason for the victory, no matter how they fought the men on the field would win or lose depending on how God responded. We also read in Ephesians 6 that our battle is not against flesh and blood, or other people, it is against the principalities and powers of this "dark" world. The fighters in that picture up there, they live their lives to fight. They train extremely hard to be in great shape and to prepare for the next fight, they work on skills and techniques to be able to overpower the other guy. Unlike them we don't have a date that we know the battle will take place on, instead we have to fight the battle each day against the power and temptations of the devil.

We read in Romans 12 about how christians make up one body. We all have different gifts and abilities and we are supposed to work together. In council ring I brought out my sword and asked any of the guys if they would like to fight me. Obviously nobody is all that eager when you are swinging a 4' long sword. Then I asked what if they had armour and a sword of their own? I think a couple of the older guys might have taken me on at that point but not the younger ones. Then I asked them if I was blind if they would fight me. A couple still thought I might get lucky and hit them by swinging wildly, but there was a little more interest. Then I asked if I had only one leg if they would. Almost everyone thought that me on one leg would be pretty easy to dodge past and take down. I explained that not working together as christians is like a soldier trying to fight with one leg and/or no eyes. He is easy to pick off, even by a smaller less powerful enemy.

At Battalion we learn about God together, we memorize verses together, we play games together, we hang out together, but we can also work together and fight together as christians. Just a few of the ways that we can help each other are:
- encouraging one another
- being accountable to one another
- praying together and also praying for each other
- showing love to each other and to others around us
- helping each other with truthful advice or wisdom
- being bold and courageous, sticking up for each other, encouraging each
other to be bold when we need to and sticking with them when they do
- sword fighting, the bible says the word is like a two edged sword, and we
should know how to use it, working together we can memorize it, read it,
and study it so that we can use it effectively.

We played Murderball again this week. The teams looked pretty even at the beginning. The first game was an epic that seemed as though it might never end. Just when one team would be close to finishing off the other they would manage to get a few guys back and then keep going. I think both teams were down to 1 or 2 guy a couple times. In the end though Luke's team won 3 out of 4 games.

Speaking of Luke, don't forget to pray for him as he heads to YWAM on Friday. Pray that he would have an amazing time, and that Luke would learn more about God and be able to do some awesome work for him while he is at YWAM.

Expecting GOD's Reward

I am a little slow on the recap this week, sorry about that. This week Phil finished off our four weeks on RALE, talking about Expecting God's reward.

I hope everyone remembers the tape measure, it is a great way to think about our life. For those of you who missed out Phil pointed out to us that most people spend their whole life planning and working hard so that they can enjoy approximately 15 years of doing what they want at the end of their life. These people needlessly are putting all their attention into life on this earth. When we think about it in the perspective of this life and eternity, that 15 years looks pretty silly. Don't get me wrong I am not saying don't plan for retirement. What I am saying is that we are given a very short period of time on this earth, and the best way to use our time here is to use it doing things that will impact eternity after this life. Sometimes this may seem strange to people who do not think that way. 1 Corinthians 1:18 says, "the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." Most people will not think the same as you when your perspective is closer to God's, but it is a powerful way to live.

In council ring we read the account of Moses in Hebrews 11. It says "by faith" Moses gave of the treasures of Egypt. He was pretty much the richest most powerful person in Egypt next to Pharoah but he chose to give that up and to be mistreated and identified with his people as a slave. Verse 25 says "He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward." Moses knew that God had a bigger plan and that by following it he could have an impact on eternity. By thinking that way all the riches and power of being Pharoah's grandson were meaningless. What a way to think! The Egyptians must have mocked him, even the Israelites didn't accept him right away, but he chose to persevere.

Hebrews 12:1-2 Therefore since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

And the memory verse for this week.

Matthew 6:20-21 But store up treasures for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is there your heart will be also.

See you on Tuesday. We are starting our bible study theme for this year, come on out and find out what it is.

BTLN Recap

Well as you can see the new shirts are here. Make sure you bring your form and money next week so you can get yours.

This week Ryan did our bible study on Leading Courageously. We read the story of Jonathan and his armour bearer in 1 Samuel 14. We saw how to be a good leader we need to have certain attitudes and qualities such as: courage, honesty, humility, faith. We also need to trust God and the truth in his word. Jonathan knew that God wanted to help them but he wasn't sure exactly how. He came up with a plan to trust God and also to let God guide them in their action. If the Philistines told them to stay put that would be God's sign to not attack, if they told them to come up to them that would be God's sign for them to attack. Jonathan trusted the truth that God would help them and direct them, he also had faith that God would give them a sign as to what to do. He wasn't trusting his own abilities or plan of attack. In his words; "Perhaps the Lord will act on our behalf. Nothing can hinder the Lord from saving, whether by many or by few." Jonathan also knew that to do what God wanted them to do they would need to act without telling Saul or the rest of the army. Saul's leadership was not centered on God's will as much as it was on Saul's own will and plans. Jonathan must have suspected that they wouldn't be allowed to leave if they consulted with their superiors.

We talked about how when we lead according to God's will and word that we will often experience others telling us that we are foolish or opposing what we know is right. It takes perseverance, courage, and strength to lead and make decisions in accordance with God's word. Even in Jonathan's case the Israelites who should have know better weren't following God's will.

We talked about Adam again and about how he was the leader in the Garden of Eden but when the serpent came Adam didn't do what he should have as a leader. He was convinced by Eve and the serpent that he would be better off to eat the fruit than to follow God's instruction. Ryan shared a quote from a guy named Robert Lewis that says "The courage to lead with truth rather than surrender to feelings always separates the men from the boys." At Battalion we are all men and have to learn about how to be better godly men. One thing we can work on is leading according to God's truth, not trusting in our emotion or other ideas, trusting God and his truth. We know that will require trust in God, faith that he will help us, humility to know that we don't do it by our own strength, and courage to do things that others might give us a hard time about but we know are right.

The memory verses for this week are four verses from 1 Timothy 4. All of us could read that whole chapter this week. There are some good principles for leading there. I picked out four that I think bring out the main things for our memory verses. The verses are 7, 12, 15-16.

Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives tales; rather, train yourself to be godly. Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity. Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress. Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.

We started the night out with Handball this week. Phil and Ryan's team had a couple cherry pickers which allowed the other team to out number them down low and dominate the play. We played a couple rounds of Bulldog after that.

Next week Phil is wrapping up our studies on godly manhood.

Well second week of Battalion, and the second week I brought my camera and didn't take any pictures. Someone remind me next week.

This week was the second of our 4 studies on RALE. This week we looked at accepting our responsibility.

Responsible means: answerable or accountable, for something in your control or management. Also means having the capacity to make moral decisions. Interesting definition. Two things I like about that definition are being accountable for something in your management, and being able to make moral decisions. As men God has entrusted us with lots of things to manage for his purposes and we are responsible to make sure we do that wisely. We are also given the capacity to make decisions, and also to make decisions that will affect others. It is our responsibility to be careful and make decisions wisely.

In squad meetings we read from Ephesians 5+6 which talks about how to live godly lives, as well as how men are supposed to look after their families. We also read from Colossians 3 about the same things, instructions how to live godly lives and how to look after our families. We also read in James 1 that we need to listen to the word of God, but more than that we also need to do what it says. We also read some more about Jesus and how he didn't need to eat because he was doing the work of the Father.

We can see three things that we as men are all responsible for: to live godly lives, to do what God asks, and to love our families.

We learned that as men of God we are responsible to live godly lives. That is a big task and we have to focus on doing the right things every day. That's one place where rejecting passivity that we learned about last week becomes clear. It is definitely easier to not try to live a godly life but God asks us to, so we must.

In James it said "do not merely listen to the word, do what it says". We need to listen to God and do what he tells us to do. We saw Jesus example of being satisfied enough to not eat by doing the will of God. We need to follow his example. What is God's will for your life? For some of us this might mean a certain job or profession. God gave us all talents and gifts to use in a different way to glorify him. All of us will need to work in our lives, we should use what God has given us to be good at what we do. We might also have gifts or talents that are not part of our job and God also asks us to use those to expand his kingdom. That might mean serving and leading in churches, youth groups, Battalions or other things to help others know Christ.

We also see that God tells men to look after their wives and children and to love them, as he loved us. Wow, big responsibility! Again it is easier not to but God tells us to so we need to do it. This is where that capacity for decision making really comes in. Each of us as men have increasing responsibility as we get older. As teens like most of you guys you start to have to make more decisions on your own instead of your parents making them for you, with this comes the accountability of making good choices. In a few years you will probably be almost completely responsible for yourself. Not long after that you will likely be thinking of getting married and then add the responsibility of having a wife to your life. God asks us to love our wives as he loved us, and also to lead them according to God's will. Sometime after that you will probably have kids and the same kinds or responsibilities are added for them

Be obedient to God, work for his kingdom, and love and lead your family, three major things God has made us responsible for. Next week we are going to look at how we can lead courageously.

Sometimes we need courage to reject passivity and accept responsibility, as men we are called to be leaders in our homes, in our churches, maybe at work or even in our communities. Next week we will look at how to be a good leader.

After squad meetings we played floor hockey. It was a pretty good game except for the bad goalie letting in a whole bunch at one end. As the game went on though it seemed to even out. In the end Phil and Ryan lost to a "next goal wins" goal. We wrapped up with council ring and then a good round of Bulldog.

Remember, double points if you do the memory verses this week! Simon and Lucas took advantage last week, everyone else should as well.

This weeks verses are James 1:19-25
My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you. Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.