On June 11 at 7PM, Pastor Levi Lusko will bringing the Word about life, death, sex, and romance. This isn’t just another purity conference where you’ll be asked to make a stand for purity. This is going to be an event that will change your perspective on relationships and Heaven. Life is short and the world will tell you to live your life like it’s your last day on earth, which in part may be true, but Jesus has a greater plan for you than the world does! The world wants you to live a glamorous, party hard type of life which promises satisfaction, but fails to actually make you happy. God then tells us that if we are willing to give up those things to follow Him that He will lead us to the source of happiness, His Son, Jesus Christ, who takes away the sins of the world.

Don’t miss out on this killer opportunity to make a difference in your community by giving yourself to purity and eternal matters. Keep your eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of your faith. Trust in Him and turn from all worldliness.

Invite & bring all of your friends and let’s see our great God to great & mighty things!

http://www.o2experience.com/events/riverside/

This Friday Night, CRUX Jr. High will be heading back out to Sky High Trampoline Park for a night of fun and fellowship. The ACTIVATE: High School ministry will also be joining us. If you want to go, just sign up on Wednesday Night. The cost is $10 a person. If you need an emergency release form, just head over to our ACTIVITIES page and download it from there. Hope to see you there!

At the beginning of May we started a new mini-series on Wednesday nights. The series is titled, “WIRED: Created for a Relationship”, and the idea behind this series we are in, is to help you as a student to understand your role in all relationships you have. From your relationship between family and friends, to your relationship that you will one day have with your spouse, the goal of the WIRED series is to equip you with the right tools of relational truths. Join us for the next 3 weeks as we look at your relationship with your friends, family, and future spouse.

Join us every Wednesday night at 7PM. Hope to see you there!

Join us on May 17, 2013 at 6:30PM for our CRUX Baptism & Celebration! We will spend time worshiping the Lord together, including an exhortation of the meaning of baptism.

What is baptism? The word “baptism” can be defined as, “to purify or cleanse spiritually especially by a purging experience or ordeal.” Water baptism is a public, outward testimony that indicates a personal, inward faith. It gives evidence of the inner change that has already occurred in the believer’s life when he or she was “born again” through faith in Jesus Christ. Romans 6:3-4 says, “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” What this means for the Christian is that just as Christ died on a cross for our sins, and was buried, then rose again 3 days later, symbolically, Christians also use water baptism as an act of showing that they want to take their relationship with Jesus seriously. To be immersed into the water symbolizes your death to sin and the cleansing of spiritual impurities, and the coming up out of the water represents your newness of life as Romans 6:4 tells us.

We are to be baptized because Jesus Christ commanded it (Matthew 28:19), and because we love the Lord. Jesus said, “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15). Baptism identifies the believer with the message of the gospel, the Person of Jesus Christ, and other believers. It associates the believer with the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and signifies the believer’s death to the old life and his or her resurrection as a new creation in Christ.

With that in mind, the question must be asked, “Have you been baptized?” If not, you should! Not only because Jesus wants us to as a way of obedience, but we should also desire to be baptized as well. And you have an opportunity to do so on May 17 at 6:30PM. We will also be having FREE pizza after as we celebrate those who got baptized.

Hope to see you there!

]]> http://www.harvestjrhigh.org/2013/05/08/crux-baptism-celebration/feed/ 0 http://www.harvestjrhigh.org/2013/05/06/2013-summer-surf-camp/ http://www.harvestjrhigh.org/2013/05/06/2013-summer-surf-camp/#comments Mon, 06 May 2013 18:51:43 +0000 Brad Ormonde Jr http://www.harvestjrhigh.org/?p=4123 Posted in AnnouncementsEastvaleEventsMediaOrangecrestPhotoRiversideSummer Retreat

Here they are! All 4 sermons from our 2013 CRUX Jr. High Winter Camp: UNLEASHED

UNLEASHED Winter Camp- Adam Eaton

UNLEASHED Winter Camp- Brad Jr.

UNLEASHED Winter Camp- Chuck

UNLEASHED Winter Camp- Pastor Jon

To stay plugged in with CRUX Jr. High visit our Facebook page!

The Last or Lord’s Supper had concluded, and Jesus, with His disciples, was heading to the Mount of Olives and the Garden of Gethsemane. In verse 40 Jesus tells His disciples. “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” In Matthew 26:31, Jesus told His disciples, “You will all fall away because of Me this night, for it is written, ‘I will strike down the shepherd and the sheep of the flock will be scattered’” quoting from Zechariah 13.

Jesus was their Shepherd, but many followed him with certain expectations: He would overthrow the Romans and be Israel’s next king.

Jesus wanted to be alone, verse 41 states, and withdrew from them. He wanted one-on-one time with His Father. “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from Me. Yet not My will, but Yours be done.” 

The Lord’s Supper was at the time of the Passover, which had four different cups, with each cup having meaning. (Read Exodus 6:6-7.) The first cup symbolized God removing Israel from Egypt. The second was freeing them from slavery. The third cup, which is what Jesus may have been referring to in Luke 22:42 was “I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great power.” His sacrifice was near, and our redemption was drawing near. (The fourth cup will be celebrated with Jesus in Heaven: “I will take you for My people and I will be your God.”)

What was the Father’s will? Ephesians 1:4: “For He chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world that we may be holy and unblemished in his sight.” It was God’s will that His son die for us, and as an obedient Son, He submitted to that will.

It was agonizing. Jesus is about to face a horrific death. It was the payment for sin. Luke said Jesus was sweating great drops of blood. Called “hematidrosis,” it described Jesus’ condition. Under great pressure, blood vessels around the sweat glands constrict. As the pressure passes, the vessels dilate and rupture. The blood enters the glands and, as the glands sweat, blood is released. Hebrews 12:2: “He, for the sake of the joy which lay before Him, patiently endured the cross, looking with contempt upon its shame.”

Jesus finishes His prayer and, as Luke 22:43 states, “…an angel from Heaven appeared to Him, [perhaps Michael] strengthening Him. Wanting fellowship, Jesus finds His disciples asleep. Perhaps they were praying, but it was late.

Did Jesus pray for Himself? Yes, and we can, too, but He first prayed for His disciples in John 14:16 and in John 17:9, “I ask on their behalf.” Now Jesus is asking His Father for the strength He will need to endure the cross, to despise the shame, as He saw the joy set before Him.

We are His joy, if we ask Him into our hearts.

Questions

• - What temptations might the disciples encounter in the minutes and hours ahead?
• - Do we follow Jesus because life is good or our friends are following? If times get tough for you or your family, will you fall away like His   disciples would?
• - How many times did Jesus pray without others present?
• - Why did Jesus eat with the disciples in the Upper Room?
• - Why was Jesus’ death the only payment acceptable to the Father for our sin?
• - What was the “stress of the cross?”
• - How often do you fall asleep when praying?
• - Who do you pray for first?

Where is your “prayer closet” to be alone with God?

In order to reach the youth of our city, the CRUX Jr. High ministry is partnering with the ACTIVATE: High School Ministry to host an evangelistic outreach on April 24, called “UPRISING.” Our first event was almost exactly a year ago, and our second was this past October; we are very excited for our third Uprising! We want the young people of our city to stop living for the things of this world and start living according to God’s Word.

We want our youth to rise up and take ground for Christ and His Kingdom. We want students to make a difference in their homes, schools, churches, and communities. We want an uprising. We will have a concert with the bands Manafest and Worth Dying For, and an evangelistic message from Pastor Jason Powell.

Students: grab some flyers and stickers and get the word out! Make it your goal to bring at least one friend to the event who doesn’t know Jesus or go to church.

Parents: Challenge your children by being willing to bring all of their friends! Fill up the car and bring students to hear the gospel.

Here’s the info:

When: Wednesday, April 24 at 7pm (doors open at 6:30pm)
Where: The Court at Harvest Riverside
Cost: Free

Download UPRISING Wallpapers for your iOS Device. Android Wallpapers to follow.

iPad Mini Wallpaper

Retina iPad Wallpaper

iPhone 5 “U” Wallpaper

iPhone 5 Grunge Wallpaper

iPhone 4/4S “U” Wallpaper

iPhone 4/4S Grunge Wallpaper

Check out the camp photo we took at our UNLEASHED 2013 Retreat. To tag yourself in it, go to our Facebook page