Keep the Faith

 Logo Designed by: Kaitlyn

What's up OLSO Readers?!
     1 Thessalonians 1:3-"We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ."

This blog talks about mailing our OLSO Leader Packs and includes a Keep the Faith Challenge.

OLSO Leader Packs

     Today, we mailed One Love Skate Outreach Leader Packs. Three packets were sent to leaders in Oahu. We also sent a packet to Big Island, Ohio, and SC. These included One Love tracts, stickers, and a street pack (A tiny OLSO Composition Notebook w/tracts to give away and then to write names and prayer requests of people you talk to). We've been giving these packs and a bunch of tracts to leaders on Maui. As Nicole and I distributed the packets we prayed hard that nothing will be wasted and that God will use this print media to Glorify Himself and bring many people to Him.

 These tracts and stickers are a great way to connect with the culture and communicate the love of Jesus (Acts 17 style).
---Be on the lookout for a video blog coming soon featuring the message on the tracts and Paul's example in Acts 17.

Keep the Faith

     Lately, I'm constantly reminded that God is totally perfect and totally in control, but we (the human race) consistently decide not to follow His perfect, purposeful, refreshing, merciful, substantial commands and, instead, we follow our own desires (Romans 3:23). Ultimately, this leads to misery and depression (Look closely at any story in the Bible).
For example: We may pursue selfish leisure time or relationships or social status or financial "peace" or selfish fleeting pleasure rather than laying our life down for Jesus and finding true life in Him (Matthew 16:24-26).

This morning, my wife, Nicole, posted this on Twitter:

Beautiful paradox:  Try to save your life, you'll loose it; if you lose your life in Christ, you'll find it. Matthew 16:25-Relinquish control.

     That's so clear, but we (the human race) don't get it enough to let Jesus transform our lives. This concept of TRUE LIFE in JESUS vs. TEMPORARY, PLEASURABLE DEATH in WORLDLINESS has been heavy on my heart. It's great to be back on Maui, but with this broken foot and not being able to drive I've really been spending a lot of time sitting. It's been great to read the Word and pray and read some other solid books I'd been wanting to read before I start school again in the Fall, but I also find myself overwhelmed by all of the need here. There's "So Much Trouble in the World." I'm so burdened to see so many youth and even adults choose to live for foolishness and destroy their lives.
     - I'm amazed at how deceptive Satan can be, and all of us face this constant battle between living through the Holy Spirit and living for the sinful nature (Galatians 5:16-17).

      Yesterday, my wife and I watched Pay it Forward. It definitely had some sketchy parts, but it did portray a lot of the negative effects of living for sin. After watching it, I was amazed that the world loves a concept like: "Do 3 random really good things for strangers," but often does not accept Jesus' instruction in Matthew 22:36-39:

 "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'

     What Pay It Forward didn't portray is that following the Bible is the way to life and even to "a world that wouldn't suck" if everyone actually obeyed what God instituted. However, in the world, as Pay it Forward portrayed, we've chosen to break God's law of love, and we live for selfish pursuits that the movie accurately portrayed (alcoholism, porn, heroine, sex outside of marriage, abuse, selfishness, and violence) all of which lead to misery and death.

     My devos were in Isaiah 55-58. God's dealings with the nation of Israel show that God offers Salvation to anyone who walks with Him (Isa 56:1-2). God offers true life. He says in Isaiah 55:2:

"Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare."

      So I want to encourage you to "Keep the Faith." Walk with Jesus. In Him alone is life (John 14:6). Everything else will crumble.

      We're studying the thirteen letters of Paul with the youth group at Pukalani Baptist, and tonight we're in 1 Thessalonians. This video is a cool way to help remember some of the concepts in the text, and I want to share it with you guys:

      Keep the FAITH. Live life with purpose. Keep praying that the message of One Love is clearly communicated with the world and that God brings revival on Maui and in all of Hawaii. Do what God calls you to do and represent Him well with your actions and your words (Romans 10:14).

     Also, pray because my friend Kaipo has the OLSO camera today, and Lord-Willing he and the band 7 Simple Pieces and some Upcountry Youth are recording some new Gospel Presentations and  testimonies right now that will be up on OneLoveSkateOutreach.com very soon.

Rep the King (2 Corinthians 5:20),

Josh

One Love

 

What's up One Love Skate Outreach blog readers!!!

     Have you experienced the one love? Here's what it is: God is totally perfect; we are not perfect. Yet, God is amazingly generous and has provided Jesus as the perfect Savior.

"We are more wicked than we ever feared yet more loved than we ever hoped" (Mark Driscoll, Doctrine, 172).

Right now, I'm at my brother Jeff's house in NC, and we're both working on our laptops listening to a John Piper sermon he started playing. Piper just said: "The wisdom of God has devised and decreed a way for the love of God to deliver sinners from the wrath of God all the while not compromising the righteousness of God." ONE LOVE!!! God's love constantly amazes me because He is totally Holy and perfect and still merciful!

Everyone, understand this please: One Love Skate Outreach exists to help people meet Jesus Christ and experience God's one love. That's the only reason. Skating, gospel interviews, service projects, events, and anything we do is only a tool to encourage people to have joy in Jesus. The world's definitions of One Love and the world's cheap thrills do not compare to the truth of God's Word and the joy and pleasure of worshiping the LORD (Matthew 13:44-46). OLSO exists to help people know ONE LOVE!

 That said, here's what's been going on with One Love Skate Outreach during the past few weeks: Service Project at Keopuolani Park, Broken Foot-ETR, OLSO Interviews in Ohio.

Service Project at Keopuolani Park

     Thursday, June 17, I received a phone call from a guy named Jordan who is in charge of the ramps at Keo Park. This phone call was unexpected and was in response to a phone call I had made months before to the city about helping to fix some of the ramps on Maui. Divine Timing-It was the day before Nic and I were leaving for NC, and I was not at Children's Camp in Keanae as originally planned because I had been super sick. God's timing is impeccable. Furthermore, my friend Jon--who also designed the OLSO logo at the top of the page--from South Carolina was on Maui, and he was happy to help out. Plus, Josh Knipple, our OLSO skateboard deck designer, and some girls (Courtney, Bethany, and Michelle) from Pennsylvania were on Maui to serve Doris Todd School and were happy to come take a morning and help serve the county of Maui by working at the skatepark. We all worked hard and had a great morning. We grinded down some of the dangerous cracks in the cement and we painted the deck, stairs, and rails of the vert ramp.

Here are a few pics:

Keo Park

Jordon showing us how to grind some of the cracks and bumps that were forming in the cement

Josh Knipple after first drop-in attempt

 Michelle's first attempt of four dropping in

     Some of the kids that were skating that morning really enjoyed trying to teach Michelle to drop in. They all gave her instructions and cringed as she fell, but she earned their respect. It was a fun way to end the morning, and there were no serious injuries=)

Check out the group pic:

OLSO Service Project Day at Keopuolani Park-6/17/10

     I was excited to see God give us an opportunity to bless the county of Maui, and we pray God will continue to give us favor in the community. In the near future, we hope to team up with Love Project and help put some new Skatelite on the 12 foot vert ramp.

Broken Foot-ETR 

 

     Two days after I arrived in NC for vacation with my family, I was wakeboarding on Moss Lake w/my friend Cline. I'm not super into wakeboarding... I like surfing, skating, and snowboarding way better, but I still like going out with my friends when they invite me. It's fun to be able to get big air and do big backflips every once in a while.

 Cline about to land a big backflip

 

     My NC friends kill it now and wakeboard 80 feet behind the boat rather than 65 feet like they used to before I moved to Maui two years ago. After a fun wakeskate session, I strapped into my friend Cline's wakeboard and started riding hard. My third attempt to clear the wake succeeded, however, I fell and snapped three metatarsals, fractured my big toe, and messed up some tendons as well. Here's a pic of my foot:

Josh's Right Foot X-Ray-6/21/10

 

     Although being on crutches and unable to put any weight on my right foot gets really old, I've been blessed to really soak up a lot of quality time with my family over the past two weeks. Also, the Dr. told me to move my flight back until July 12 because of the swelling that could occur in the cast, and the airline changed our tickets for free. Pastor Paul, my mentor and boss, was very supportive of us spending more time in NC, and it's such a blessing to get more time with my family as we are planning to go to the Philippine's during Christmas instead of NC. My wife's been incredible through all of this, and she hooks me up with sponge baths... che-YEAH!!! =)

     I look at this as God reminding me and Nicole to continue living Philippians 4:4-7 and Enjoy the Ride. This is another opportunity to practice what I just preached at Pukalani Baptist on June 6. Now that my foot is broke, even in a cast, this next two months I'm called to ETR-Enjoy the Ride (Even when the vicodin is gone).

OLSO Interviews in Ohio

     Wednesday, June 23, my mom, dad, Nicole, and I rode to Ohio to see my grandma and show Nicole around the place where I grew up. While we were in Ohio, two days after I broke my foot, Nicole and I went to the mall and got to ask some people the five OLSO questions. 


     After the interviews, we got to share the Gospel with a few of these people, and I'm excited that God can do immeasurably more than all we could ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20). Christians, rep the King in your words and actions (2 Corinthians 5:20). Whether you skate or not, use any passions that God has given you to build bridges and share the Gospel with people (1 Corinthians 9:19-22)


God bless you guys. Thanks for taking the time to read the OLSO Blog. I encourage you to follow us on blogger and keep checking out OneLoveSkateOutreach.com. There are a new tracts on the site now that we want you to print out and share. Feel free to contact us and please keep us accountable to make sure that everything One Love Skate Outreach does is: to help people meet Jesus Christ and experience God's one love.

One Love (1 John 4:9),
Josh

One Love Skate Outreach 5 Questions

     We've been using five questions to interview people and compiling the results. As I've been working on publishing some tracts and cards for OLSO over the last few days, I wrote some Biblical answers to the questions we ask when we go talk to people. This is still a work in progress, and I want all the help we can get from godly counselors who are skilled at communicating Biblical truth. This blog will take you under four minutes to read straight through, and we'd like to know whether you think these answers are Biblical and concise. Please send us your responses and feedback. Ask God to teach you about Him as you read. Be a Berean (Acts 17:11).

What comes to your mind when you think of One Love?

     One Love is a popular concept. Bob Marley sang: “One Love, One Heart, Let's get together and feel all right.” Love is extremely important to people of all ages.
     True love means sharing vital information. If a tsunami was coming and you were on the beach, the most loving thing someone could do for you would not be to make sure you were happy and comfortable at the beach; the loving action is to inform you that you need to get to higher ground.
     The Bible teaches that God has shared vital information with the world because of His love for us (2 Timothy 3:16).

What’s the Purpose of Life?

     Unfortunately, many people do not know why they are alive. However, God tells us in the Bible that God made man in His image (Genesis 1:26-27).  Therefore, the purpose of life is to please God, our perfect Creator (1 Corinthians 10:31). Everything we do should please God our Creator and make Him famous (Colossians 3:17). 

Who is God?

     Although different people have various ideas about God, God has described who He is in the pages of His Word, the Bible. He is one God made up of three persons: the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Matthew 3:16-17, Ephesians 4:4-6). God is very different from people, and He is totally perfect (Isaiah 6:3).  

What do you believe will happen to you when you die?

    Each of us will die one day. Although many people presume that a loving God should let everyone go to heaven, God is perfect and cannot let evil go unpunished because He is just.
     Each of us has individually broken God’s established standard of righteousness: No person has kept the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20). No person has ever loved others perfectly as Jesus commanded (Matthew 22:36-37). Although God’s commands are provided in love to protect us and point us to true life—for example, no one wants to be lied to, cheated on, stolen from, etc.—we have all sinned by breaking God’s commands and we have all fallen short of God’s perfect standard (Romans 3:23). Therefore, when we die we deserve to be separated from God forever (Isaiah 53:5, Romans 3:10). Because God is just and we have broken the Law, we deserve the punishment for our transgressions, which is eternal death (Romans 6:23).

Who is Jesus Christ? 

      About 2,000 years ago, Jesus Christ walked this earth. C.S. Lewis suggested that Jesus Christ had to be either: the Lord God, a liar, or a crazy person because Jesus claimed to be the Son of God (John 14:6).

     1 John 4:9 says: “This is how God showed His LOVE among us: He sent His ONE and only Son into the world that we might live through Him.” Because of God’s awesome love, He sent Jesus to live a perfect life that no one of us could have lived, and Jesus died on the cross and resurrected taking believers’ sin on Himself (Isaiah 53:6, 1 Peter 2:24). Jesus Christ is God’s Son, and if we put our faith in Jesus by repenting of our sins and receiving Him as our Savior and the Lord of our life we will live forever with God (John 3:16, Romans 10:9, Ephesians 2:8-10).

     If you actively believe this vital information, the Holy Spirit has opened your eyes to this truth, and God will restore your relationship with Him. Put your faith and trust in Jesus as your Savior, and regularly repent of the wrong things you do. Let God transform your life through the Bible as you no longer live like the world and give every part of your life to God experiencing His ONE LOVE (Romans 12:1-2).

For more resources to help you experience the ONE LOVE visit: www.oneloveskateoutreach.com

 Keep praying for One Love Skate Outreach and all that this ministry entails. Lord willing, tomorrow morning we will having some tracts and stickers made. Pray for the process. Also, if you can make a tract or if you have made one in the past, please e-mail it to us because we are looking for some solid tracts for the website. Rep Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:20).

In Him (Gal 2:20),
Josh

Enjoy the Ride Challenge, Josh's Gospel Presentation, and Summer Prayer Requests

What's up everyone?
     I hope you're doing well as you read this. This summer's already off to a busy start with church events and summer camps. Nicole and I will be traveling in July, and I hope to get some OLSO interviews with people in different states. Thanks for reading this blog and staying updated with One Love Skate Outreach. This blog includes: Enjoy the Ride Challenge, Josh's Gospel Presentation, and Summer Prayer Requests.

Enjoy the Ride Challenge

     Last Sunday, I had the opportunity to preach a message at PBC called "Enjoy the Ride" from Philippians 4:4-7. The sermon and handout is available under the Resources section of www.oneloveskateoutreach.com if you want to check it out.

     This week, I got to practice what I preached last Sunday morning.

I've been getting to Enjoy the Ride.

To me, one of the most exciting weeks of the year is our big MCBA Youth Camp in Keanae that is taking place right now. When we arrived Monday afternoon with our youth group, we all had a great time. However, that night I started to feel really sick. I went to sleep at 8p.m. and slept until 7a.m. on Tuesday. Then, I woke up and took medicine and went back to bed until 12p.m. I was so bummed!!!
     I drove myself to the Dr. and found out I had a fever and a throat infection and had to come home and rest. So I've been home since Tuesday afternoon taking anti-biotics and trying to get better while my wife, our youth group, a bunch of Maui youth, and a bunch of my friends are at beautiful Camp Keanae for a fun, energetic week of worshiping God at camp. Philippians 4:4-"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!" I'm reminded that His ways are not my ways (Isa 55), and that He doesn't need me to accomplish His will (Acts 17:25).

Enjoy the Ride!

Josh's Gospel Presentation

     As I was stuck at home after leaving youth camp with a fever and throat infection this week, I decided to finally record a gospel presentation for OLSO. I've been encouraging a lot of other Christians to put their testimony/gospel presentation up on the internet because it's a great way to obey God's command to preach the Word (2 Tim 4:2). Naomi Kaneshiro has been reminding me to put my own presentation up, and here it is:

Hope you're encouraged by this. Some other gospel presentations are compiled under the resources section of OLSO if you want to check them out. I encourage you to share one of these presentations with someone who don't know Jesus as their Savior, as it can be a great conversation starter. Better yet, record your own to share and then send us a link!

Summer Prayer Requests

     Please keep praying for all the follow up after Unashamed Camp Moluhia and MCBA Camp Keanae as a lot of teens gave their lives to God and expressed a desire to live their lives solely for Him.

     Pray for Go Skateboarding Day Skatepark Tour sponsored by 180 Skate shop on June 21. Pray for Chris Akahoshi as he leads it.

     Be in prayer for Entrusted With The Gospel coming up June 22-23 on Maui and June 25-26 on Oahu. Here's a promo video for Entrusted that Nick Tanaka made:

      Also, please be praying for the mission team from Crucified Ministries that is scheduled to come to Maui for OLSO around July 14-25. We're praying that while they are here we'll be able to work on some of the ramps at Keopuolani skatepark, record gospel interviews, and hang out with a lot of skaters here on Maui to share the gospel and our lives as well (1 Thess 2:8).

Thanks for supporting OLSO with your prayers and for taking the time to read our blog. We're always encouraged to hear feedback from you guys. Pray for revival, and Rep the King!

In Him (Gal 2:20),
Josh