Saturday, September 4th
Written by Kyle Shultz

John 20:31
But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

If there was one thing that I’ve heard people say about the Bible, it has to be this, that it’s hard to understand. The truth of the matter is that there is a ton of stuff that was written. If you read for about 15 minutes a day, it would take you a year to read from cover to cover. I firmly believe that the reason that people don’t understand the Bible is because they don’t know the theme (why the Bible was written).

As you may or may not know, the Bible is separated into two sections; the Old Testament and the New Testament. Summarized, the Old Testament shows us that according to God’s standard, man doesn’t measure up to Him. We can see by His commands that it’s just impossible for us to follow them without messing up. The New Testament summarized says this; that Jesus came and offers life that is eternal and the only way to stand right with God. That sounds incredible! Jesus came and made it possible not only for us to be right before God, but to be free from the power of sin and the judgment that would follow! What ties these two ideas together is the solution found in today’s passage. It’s found in placing your trust in Christ and His completed work for saving you. He doesn’t require that you earn it, He doesn’t require you following a set of rules to maintain it. All He requires is your faith in Him and what He did, and through your choosing to believe, He offers you life. This life will never be taken away, and it will never end. It doesn’t just start when you die, it starts when you receive it. If you have never given your life to Christ, do you want it?

Extra time in the Word John 4

Do you have any questions regarding your walk with God? Do you need to share with someone about a struggle? You can e-mail me at asktheyouthpastor@xtrlive.com.

The new Xtreme app is now avaliable in the app store for the ITouch and IPhone users and it’s free. Featuring Daily Bible Studies, podcasts, Xtreme Talk Live on demand, music news, movie reviews, blogs and more. Download now, it’s free!

Thursday, September 2nd

Written by Kyle Shultz
John 13:35
By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.

“What makes Christianity different from any other religion?” I’ve been asked this question a number of times. A lot of times people wonder this when because they feel the need to prove to others that He exists. While everyone has the natural born instinct that there is a God, we need more than just that in our lives. While we have a natural perception that He exists, what makes it difficult is that we can’t see Him, feel Him, hear Him etc. His Word shows us that Christians are to live by faith. The thing about that is other religions demand some form of faith as well. So what separates Christianity from them? What makes it separate from the others is that when other religions tell one how to get to heaven by sweating it out with the possibility of making it, Christianity assures one of Heaven because God came down to us as Jesus. When one accepts Him into his life, Christ lives inside that believer, and the believer’s new life is one that is powered by the love of Christ that dwells in him. If you try to follow God’s commands on your own, you’ll find it’s impossible. The only way to follow them is when the believer allows Christ to rule in the heart, and powered by His love, one can walk in His Word. Not only that, but when a believer is walking in His love, the evidence of Jesus in one’s life will be so clear, that those who don’t have Him will see it and want that, because they lack His presence in their lives. If you are reading this and you feel God tugging at your heart, don’t walk away. Allow God to show you what it is that is missing in your life. If you don’t know Jesus, you can allow Him into your life here and now.

Extra time in the Word John 2

Do you have any questions regarding your walk with God? Do you need to share with someone about a struggle? You can e-mail me at asktheyouthpastor@xtrlive.com.

The new Xtreme app is now avaliable in the app store for the ITouch and IPhone users and it’s free. Featuring Daily Bible Studies, podcasts, Xtreme Talk Live on demand, music news, movie reviews, blogs and more. Download now, it’s free!

Wednesday, September 1st
Written by Kyle Shultz

John 10:10
The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.

You might be wondering, “Why is life so tough? Where is God in all of this?” You may even think “Is God doing all of this to me?” It makes sense to think this because God has everything under control right? What a lot of people don’t think or consider though is that there is an enemy whose sole purpose in life is to keep you from the truth about God. The funny thing about Satan’s attacks is that he will attack you, but the reason he is attacking you is because he wants to attack God. I know it sounds weird, but I’ll explain. Satan tried to take heaven by force long ago. What happened though was instead of taking it, he sealed his doom. When God won the battle over Satan (which wasn’t much of a battle), Satan went to attacking man.

Why would Satan attack man then if he’s mad at God? Because God did something special with man that He didn’t do with anything else in the whole universe, He made man in His own image. So when Satan looks at you, he sees a reflection of God in you and that scares him. So what he did was tricked the first man into sinning so that man could share the same fate. But God did something that changed the whole course of the world, He sent Jesus to take care of what man messed up. Jesus came and took care of the payment of your sins. You don’t have to be good enough to get to God, God came to you. Through His payment, He offers life. You might say, “I’m living now.” The truth is that without Christ, you are just existing. The life, the rich and satisfying life, which you crave can be only found in Christ. He offers it to you freely; all you have to do is believe it and accept it for yourself.

Extra time in the Word John 1

Do you have any questions regarding your walk with God? Do you need to share with someone about a struggle? You can e-mail me at asktheyouthpastor@xtrlive.com.

The new Xtreme app is now avaliable in the app store for the ITouch and IPhone users and it’s free. Featuring Daily Bible Studies, podcasts, Xtreme Talk Live on demand, music news, movie reviews, blogs and more. Download now, it’s free!

Tuesday, August 31st
Written by Kyle Shultz

Proverbs 19:20
Listen to advice and accept instruction, and in the end you will be wise.

I don’t think there’s a single believer who doesn’t have an inkling of desire in them to be wise. When you look at someone who is truly reflecting Christ you want that. When you look at Christians who have walked with Christ many years, people who aren’t bitter, angry, who are pleasant to be around, you appreciate their wisdom and experience. God wants to make you wise with His wisdom, and the starting point is admitting that you don’t have it. All God expects from us is that we are teachable. Look at the words used in today’s verses; listen, advice, it’s about us receiving. The greatest enemy is ourselves. We can’t learn of God based in our own thinking. It’s allowing God to equipping us with His mind and letting Him teach us.

Extra time in the Word Luke 22

Do you have any questions regarding your walk with God? Do you need to share with someone about a struggle? You can e-mail me at asktheyouthpastor@xtrlive.com.

The new Xtreme app is now avaliable in the app store for the ITouch and IPhone users and it’s free. Featuring Daily Bible Studies, podcasts, Xtreme Talk Live on demand, music news, movie reviews, blogs and more. Download now, it’s free!

Monday, August 30th
Written by Kyle Shultz

Proverbs 19:2
It is not good to have zeal without knowledge, nor to be hasty and miss the way.

This has got to be one of the hardest lessons that I have to keep learning. You know all those times when your heart tells you “Go after this! This is where it’s at!” but then you fall on your face with a huge letdown? That’s the danger of being led by your emotions. We want to be led by our heart because emotions are so strong, but the heart is deceptive and is deceived very easily. Our emotions are the way they are based on a reaction to whatever is in front of us. If we had a good night sleep, didn’t get in any fights and enjoyed a good day with friends, we’re great. If we miss a meal, forget to do homework until its too late, get in arguments with friends or family, we feel terrible. What I’m trying to say is our emotions are so fickle; they change in the blink of an eye. The only way we can be guided by knowledge as this verse shows is by putting God where He needs to be in us (the fear of the Lord, Proverbs 1:7). We have to place Him there, and keep Him there. He will keep us on a consistent plane and teach us how to handle those emotions because He wants us focused on Him.

Extra time in the Word Luke 21

Do you have any questions regarding your walk with God? Do you need to share with someone about a struggle? You can e-mail me at asktheyouthpastor@xtrlive.com.

The new Xtreme app is now avaliable in the app store for the ITouch and IPhone users and it’s free. Featuring Daily Bible Studies, podcasts, Xtreme Talk Live on demand, music news, movie reviews, blogs and more. Download now, it’s free!

Sunday, August 29th
Written by Kyle Shultz

Proverbs 15:15
All the days of the oppressed are wretched, but the cheerful heart has a continual feast.

Let’s face it. This is a heavy world. We’ve always got some thing weighing on us. If we give ourselves a self-examination we’ll see that there’s not much pretty in there. If we hang around people long enough, they’ll eventually rub us the wrong way. Not only that, but we also get messages from people all the time that we’ll never be enough. If you don’t exactly fit in a mold, you’re an outcast. We really can’t do anything about avoiding these things. The question is we have to remember is if we are going to let this weigh ourselves down. 1 Peter 5:7 says that we need to give Jesus all our cares. Why do you think that’s the case? Is it because Jesus wants us to plug our ears when bad things come and pretend they don’t exist? Not at all! He knows that if we focus on them that it will make us sour. The key to cheerfulness is rejoicing. Rejoicing is finding satisfaction in something. If we focus our attention on Christ, what He says is true, and what He has done for us and made us, He lifts us out of the oppression! It’s not a one time thing either. Because we always have Christ, we can shake the frowns anytime. Look at your life and ask God to help you change one thing in you today out of response to who Christ has made you.

Extra time in the Word Luke 20

Do you have any questions regarding your walk with God? Do you need to share with someone about a struggle? You can e-mail me at asktheyouthpastor@xtrlive.com.

The new Xtreme app is now avaliable in the app store for the ITouch and IPhone users and it’s free. Featuring Daily Bible Studies, podcasts, Xtreme Talk Live on demand, music news, movie reviews, blogs and more. Download now, it’s free!

Saturday, August 28th
Written by Kyle Shultz

Proverbs 15:8
The Lord detests the sacrifice of the wicked, but the prayer of the upright pleases Him.

We all go through those times (more times than not for a lot of us) when we aren’t guarding our walk with God. It is our responsibility to examine ourselves in order that we might be realigned with the Lord. Whenever you mess up with your friend, you do something for them to show them you’re sorry. That’s what you do in relationships as well. God doesn’t desire that we seek to earn back His favor. When we try and give God something to earn His favor back, it’s us offering something from ourselves. The apostle Paul said that in our flesh is not a single good thing, and Isaiah says that our own righteousness is like filthy rags to God. I believe what this verse is saying is that God is pleased with us when we realize that there isn’t a single thing we can do and just ask God to bring us back to where we need to be. God made it possible for us to be right because of Jesus. If we keep focused on that we’ll be fine.

Extra time in the Word Luke 19

Do you have any questions regarding your walk with God? Do you need to share with someone about a struggle? You can e-mail me at asktheyouthpastor@xtrlive.com.

The new Xtreme app is now avaliable in the app store for the ITouch and IPhone users and it’s free. Featuring Daily Bible Studies, podcasts, Xtreme Talk Live on demand, music news, movie reviews, blogs and more. Download now, it’s free!

Friday, August 27th
Written by Kyle Shultz

2 Chronicles 17:10
And a terror from the Lord fell upon all the kingdoms of the lands that were round about Judah, so that they made no war against Jehoshaphat.

This is a promise that the Lord gives to those who are obeying and following Him. This is not the safest of time in our society today. I can remember when it was no big deal for me to go wherever I wanted in the town which I was raised, (which was a small town in the middle of nowhere). Then drug dealers moved into the neighborhood behind us and everything went south. It got to a point that we could only trust a few people in the town before we moved. There were plenty of times when people could have tried breaking in or harass us But God took care of us because we looked to honor Him.

The king of Judah had that same promise. He had enemies surrounding him that were way more powerful than him. He could have been wiped out by one psycho ruler, but God was in control just like He is today. Because the Lord loved the king of Judah and this king honored Him with his life, God gave him peace on every side that he lived. In those times in the Middle East, if you had rest from your enemies, you had something to be happy about. War could be surrounding us today but if we are following God with our lives He promises to keep us at peace in His hands.

Extra time in the Word Luke 19

Do you have any questions regarding your walk with God? Do you need to share with someone about a struggle? You can e-mail me at asktheyouthpastor@xtrlive.com.

The new Xtreme app is now avaliable in the app store for the ITouch and IPhone users and it’s free. Featuring Daily Bible Studies, podcasts, Xtreme Talk Live on demand, music news, movie reviews, blogs and more. Download now, it’s free!

Thursday, August 26th
Written by Kyle Shultz

1 John 2:28
And now, little children, abide (live, remain permanently) in Him, so that when He is made visible, we may have and enjoy perfect confidence (boldness, assurance) and not be ashamed and shrink from Him at His coming.

The fact that Jesus is coming back one day very soon is meant to infuse hope inside us. When I was younger and my parents went somewhere, if my room was a mess and my parents were going to be back soon, I hurried up and cleaned as fast as I could. We ought to have a similar mind to be prepared for Jesus coming back to rule on this world. What I don’t want you to think is that you have to clean yourself up in order for Jesus to be pleased with you. That is not the case at all. What this means to us is that we need to choose to allow Jesus to work in us by us allowing Him to lead us in our thoughts, what we do, wherever we go, and in whatever we say. If we allow Jesus to work in all areas of our lives, we can stand confident that He will be pleased in us when He comes. We don’t need to be afraid of Him. Those who are lost will, but we belong to Him. As long as we choose to be obedient to Him, His peace will keep us in that time.

Extra time in the Word Luke 18

Do you have any questions regarding your walk with God? Do you need to share with someone about a struggle? You can e-mail me at asktheyouthpastor@xtrlive.com.

The new Xtreme app is now avaliable in the app store for the ITouch and IPhone users and it’s free. Featuring Daily Bible Studies, podcasts, Xtreme Talk Live on demand, music news, movie reviews, blogs and more. Download now, it’s free!

Wednesday, August 25th
Written by Kyle Shultz

Galatians 1:6-9
I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed.

The Apostle Paul was writing this portion of Scripture to the church of Galatia to serve as a warning from where it was that they were receiving their guidance in their walk with Christ. The great challenge that we as believers have in our walk with the Lord is that we so naturally want to live according to our feelings and not based on what the Lord has revealed to be true from His Word. This church was giving into false teaching that came from the mouths of “leaders” who were very knowledgeable in Scripture but were using their knowledge as a cord of confusion to snatch these believers from the freedom that is in Christ.

Christ reveals from Scripture that we did not choose Him. He chose us. Now yes we had to respond to His reaching out to us, but it’s only because He offered redemption are we capable of being saved. He has called for us to take ownership of our faith and walk first and foremost with Him. Now He has called for us to live out this faith with other believers and part of that is hearing how His Truth is being lived out in their lives. But the moment that we lift someone else’s walk in the Lord as the guide to our lives we miss out on discernment from the Spirit and we are then susceptible to attack.

We must guard our hearts and keep our focus on following Christ alone. When the Lord brings those in our journey that encourage our faith then we must thank Him. However we must weigh what is said in light of His Truth. If the Lord raises a warning flag in your heart about something, stop where you are and look to Him for direction. He will strengthen you and birth confidence in you to follow Him as He has called you.

Extra time in the Word Luke 17

Do you have any questions regarding your walk with God? Do you need to share with someone about a struggle? You can e-mail me at asktheyouthpastor@xtrlive.com.

The new Xtreme app is now avaliable in the app store for the ITouch and IPhone users and it’s free. Featuring Daily Bible Studies, podcasts, Xtreme Talk Live on demand, music news, movie reviews, blogs and more. Download now, it’s free!