The Vineyard High School students will be heading down to Cincinnati, Ohio to King’s Island on July 8th. The price is $60 and that covers all your transportation, your ticket to the park, and your ticket to Spirit Song. The concert is featuring: Newsboys, David Crowder Band, Tobymac, and Pocket Full of Rocks. If you want to sign up call the church 614-277-2700 and ask for Jason Coker. If you have any questions, leave a comment.

Oh, and for those of you who are saying, “$60, that’s crazy!” Well, if you want to go on your own then you can expect to pay:
$50 – King’s Island ticket and concert ticket and service fee
$10 – Parking at King’s Island
$18 – Gas (roundtrip)
——
$78 Grand total if you go on your own.

So, we’re saving you $18! Going with a group is cheaper than going on your own.

Secret Service: Gospel Tracts Look Like Money

By Adelle M. Banks
Religion News Service

When does an evangelistic tract become contraband?

A Denton, Texas-based evangelistic ministry and the U.S. Secret Service are locked in a legal dispute over that question after agents seized dozens of packs of tracts resembling $1 million bills.

In the past three years, the Great News Network has distributed tens of thousands of the tracts, which feature “1,000,000,” a picture of President Grover Cleveland and, in small type, the words “This is Not Legal Tender” and “Department of Eternal Affairs.”

On the back, wording around the edge of the tract begins: “The million-dollar question: Will you go to heaven?” The tracts are the same size as a standard dollar bill.

On Tuesday (June 20), U.S. District Judge Jorge A. Solis of Dallas denied the network’s request for a preliminary injunction that would have said the “Million Dollar” tracts do not violate U.S. counterfeiting laws.

The tracts came to the Secret Service’s attention after a North Carolina resident tried to deposit one in a personal bank account. Agents confiscated the tracts from the ministry on June 2.

“Overall, the bill appears very similar to actual currency,” Solis concluded. “In essence, the bill could be characterized as a modified reproduction of actual currency.”

The lawyer representing the ministry said he was “very disappointed” with the judge’s ruling.

“I guess I couldn’t disagree more,” said Brian Fahling, the senior trial attorney with the American Family Association Center for Law & Policy. “It’s like the reasonable American is an idiot. What about the 5 (million) or 6 million who haven’t gone running to their banks ….?”

Fahling, who plans to appeal the judge’s decision, estimated that millions of the tracts have been distributed by Great News Network and others who have ordered them from Living Waters Publications, based in Bellflower, Calif.

The network argued in court documents that its freedoms of speech, press and religious exercise were violated by the Secret Service agents. In an interview, Fahling said the tracts have a number of “disqualifying marks” and Cleveland does not appear on U.S. bills that are currently in use.

“There’s never been a $1 million bill and I trust there never will be,”he added.

A representative of the Secret Service could not be reached immediately for comment. The agency, which oversees anti-counterfeiting operations, explained its stance in a legal brief responding to the suit from Great News Network.

“The First Amendment values must be balanced against societal interests,” reads the response from U.S. attorneys representing Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and Secret Service agents who were named in the complaint.

They suggested that the ministry could have altered the bills to reduce the chance of confusion.

“Plaintiffs cannot avoid the issue of similitude between the appearance of their $1,000,000 bill and that of United States currency by merely calling the bills by another name, i.e. a religious tract,” their response concluded. “The $1,000,000 bills are what they appear to be — money.”

Here is the devotional and memory verse for the High School Small Group.

Titus 3:4-5 (NIV)
But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.

You are probably aware that in the New Testament there are a few Greek words for “Love”. In this passage, the original Greek word is “Philanthropia”. What is the first English word comes to your mind? It was probably Philanthropy! Philanthropy is a love of human kind. Philanthropists are known for giving very generous gifts to a humanitarian cause that touches their heart. There is no greater act of philanthropy than what Jesus Christ did for us. Jesus died for us because of his love for humans. Doesn’t it sound strange that an omnipotent God would care so much for sinners? What does that say about us? God treasures us and he considered us worth dying for. Paul talks about Christ dying for us in Romans 5:6-8,

“You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

God just didn’t love us from afar; he came to Earth to demonstrate that love with his actions. God didn’t just love the “righteous”; he came to demonstrate his love to all of humankind, especially the sinners and ungodly. God did what we couldn’t do; he restored that relationship through his Son, Jesus Christ. Our Savior!

Here is the memory verse and devotional for this week.

Isaiah 53:11 (NIV)
After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.

Read all of Isaiah 53. It’s an amazing passage in which Isaiah speaks prophetically about Jesus approximately 700 years before his birth. The Lord says through Isaiah, “my righteous servant will justify many…”

Last Wednesday we talked about Jesus the servant. God the Father sent his son Jesus, as a servant, to justify us. What does “justify” mean? Think about our court system for a second. You know how a criminal is brought to justice? Approximately 2000 years ago Jesus went into “the courtroom” on our behalf and paid the price for our sin. We broke the law, but Jesus the righteous and perfect servant, paid our fine to give us right-standing before the judge. Think about this as you read Isaiah 53.

Luke 14:7-11
“When Jesus noticed that all who had come to the dinner were trying to sit near the head of the table, he gave them this advice: “If you are invited to a wedding feast, don’t always head for the best seat. What if someone more respected than you has also been invited? The host will say, `Let this person sit here instead.’ Then you will be embarrassed and will have to take whatever seat is left at the foot of the table! “Do this instead–sit at the foot of the table. Then when your host sees you, he will come and say, `Friend, we have a better place than this for you!’ Then you will be honored in front of all the other guests. For the proud will be humbled, but the humble will be honored.”

In the culture of the Middle East at that time, when a family hosted a great banquet or a wedding feast, they would have the servants set up round tables for the meal. Cushions were set up in a U-shape around three sides of the table so that three people could recline at each table. The place of honor was in the center of each U-shape, the next highest to the left, and the last to the right. So in any given feast the host might have as many places of honor as tables set up. Everyone knew what seat was the place of honor among the three seats. Normally all the guests would stand around until the host came in and pointed out who was to sit in the places of honor. Jesus uses a feast to demonstrate a spiritual principle that “everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled, and he who humbles himself shall be exalted.”

We don’t know how many people were in the Pharisee’s home that Sabbath afternoon, but we do know that they did not wait for the word from the host, but almost rushed to the tables to take the places of honor. Jesus may have been thinking of Proverbs 25:6-7: “Do not claim honor in the presence of the king, and do not stand in the place of great men; for it is better that it be said to you, “Come up here, than that you should be put lower in the presence of the prince, whom your eyes have seen.” The host and the other people could not see that this man Jesus really was the King of the universe, for He was clothed in the robes of a servant, waiting for the host to tell Him where to sit. Jesus wanted to use this parable to demonstrate that these spiritual leaders of Israel were not interested in humbling themselves. They were interested only in their own power, position, and pride. So they rushed to the places of honor; they didn’t ask the host where to sit, but just took what they each thought was their rightful place, and ended up fighting over the places of honor.

What can we learn from all this? When it comes to hospitality, it’s just as important to learn how to be a good guest as it is to learn how to be a gracious host! Phillipians 2:3-4 says, “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than himself; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.” When we’re invited to someone’s home, go with an attitude of humility. Don’t make yourself the center of attention or try to be the “life of the party.” God wants us to live our lives in humility before Him rather than spending time seeking to exalt ourselves or think of ourselves as more important than we are! Go out of your way to build up and encourage your brother or sister in Christ. Be “other-minded!” Regard them as more important than yourself. Give them honor. When we enter others’ homes with this kind of attitude, one of humility, men and women can approach us without being turned off by our selfish pride or desire to be the center of attention. They can find out who we are so that there’s life and conversation. And in that conversation there may be great opportunity to build community, to encourage each other, and to build each other up, just by our attitude and the way we carry ourselves.