God's Word... and making changes

We started a study on the importance of God's Word this past Sunday (10/28/07). The first question to ask is what does the Bible mean to you? Is it just a nice story book? Does it just have some good practical advice? Are those stories true? Are they relevant today? Is it reliable? I believe it is all that and more.

We looked at a couple different passages relating to the how Scripture applies to our lives and discussed whether it was something we believed or not. One such passage was Hebrews 4:12, where is compares Scripture to a double-edged sword. It can certainly do that. Lift someone up and encourage them as living holy lives but also call people out on their sins. The way Jesus interacted with individuals could certainly be described this way depending on who He was talking to.

Another passage is 2 Timothy 3:16-17. And these verses tell us the real importance of Scripture.


D. L. Moody probably said it best: "The Bible was not given to increase our knowledge but to change our lives." Sure there is no harm in learning about the different characters and books of the Bible. But unless it is read personally and changes us, we are missing the point.


We didn't get too much beyond that. I really feel some changes needed to be made with Sunday School class. The environment has not been the most conducive to learning as much as we can, letting Scripture engage us as much as it can, and letting it change us. So we are all taking a week to pray and think about what we want to get out of this and putting it down on paper. Then we will form a covenant to follow, which is something that I think every group should do, whether it is at church, a sports team, organization, or whatever. Be praying for us as we go through this uncomfortable, difficult time.

Commitment

Last Friday, we talked about commitment. This was very influenced by a message I recently heard at Harvest Bible Chapel. There is a passage in Luke 9 where Jesus deals with commitment with three different guys.

The first guy approaches Jesus and says, "I will follow you wherever you go" (v. 57). It doesn't seem like a bad opening statement to make to Jesus for several reasons: 1) The guy recognized that he is the follower. 2) He knew that Jesus was the one he should be following. And 3) The guy said he would follow "wherever you (Jesus) go." And what is Jesus' response? At the end he says "...the Son of Man has no place to lay his head" (v. 58). Basically meaning that it will be difficult to commit to the statement he just made.

Jesus Christ approached the second man and said, "Follow me" (v. 59). This is different than the first guy. The second guy's response in verse 60 is up for debate. Was his father dead yet? Is he actually referring to his father or implying something else? Whether or not his father is involved is not the main point. The main point is that he was place something else more important than following Jesus. Jesus addressed this in his answer in verse 60.

Like the second guy, the third one place something else (in this case, positively his family) as more important than following Jesus (v. 61-62). Commitment. That is something that not a lot of people, atleast here in the U.S. like to do these days. Pastor MacDonald at Harvest compared it to a flame. It's not what starts the fire. Professing your faith in Jesus Christ as your Savior and in His redeeming work on the cross is what starts the fire. Commitment is more like adding some alcohol or tabasco sauce. As long as it's there, it will really make the fire huge and burn bright. It reminds me of a few of Jesus' other teachings about light and being a city on a hill.

This is true whether one is talking about their commitment to God, family, friends, or any group or team. It is my prayer that we may apply it to every important area of our lives.

the miracles

On Sunday (10/14/07) we looked at various miracles that Jesus Christ performed. He performed a lot. Most of them were healings but there were a few others. There were different kinds of healings also- physical condition, demon-possessed, and restoring to life. Another category is the wide range of miracles I place under nature. And finally, Jesus healed spiritual sickness. Once again, we split up into two different groups and had the high school teach 5 miracles to the jr. high youth. I tried to include a variety of miracles for both groups to look at.

Although a few of these miracles have lessons in them, the main lesson I shared with everyone is when Jesus healed a paralyzed man in Matthew 9:1-8. This one is huge, in my opinion, because Jesus demonstrates that He has the authority to forgive sins. Not only does He cure this man of physical illness, but spiritually also. And for what reason? If Jesus was just an ordinary man, then how could this paralytic have sinned against Him after meeting for just the first time? No. Since Jesus is the Son of God, He can forgive anyone of any sins, because all sins are against God, in addition to ones that are committed against other people too. One of the strongest claims for Jesus' divinity is here in this passage- with the authority to forgive.

Here is a list of the rest of the miracles we looked over:


Mt 8:5-13 centurion demonstrates faith
Mt 8:28-34 heals 2 demon-possessed men
Mt 9:27-34 heals blind and mute; Pharisees say it is by demons
Mt 12:9-14 heals on Sabbath; Pharisees begin to plot to kill Jesus
Mt 14:13-21 feeds 5,000
Mt 14:22-33 walk on water
Mt 17:14-21 heals demon-possessed boy while the disciples could not
Lk 13:10-17 heals crippled woman on Sabbath

blessings

keeping your word

Last Friday (10/12/07) we had a devotional about making oaths and keeping our word. Before that, we played an old childhood game that I loved playing back in the day. One person is "it" and goes on a line. The rest of the players line up on a line across from who's it about 15 feet away. The person who's "it" has to think of a movie title, TV show, or band name, then tells everyone the initials. Whoever guesses the correct name races with the person who is it to the opposite line and back to where they started. Whoever wins gets to be "it" next. It's a bit shaky when the game is new for everyone, but after awhile, you get in sync with the movies, shows, and music that people are entertained by.

Afterwards, we had our bible study lesson. We flipped to an interesting story in the middle of Judges about a man named Jephthah. Basically, he makes an oath to the Lord saying that if he wins in battle against the Ammonites, whatever comes to greet him out of his house upon returning will be sacrificed and offered to the Lord. Well, turns out his only daughter comes out to meet him when he returns.

There is a debate about whether Jephthah actually sacrifices his daughter. Did he consider a person might come out to greet him? Did he not consider human sacrifice a sin along with the pagan religions of his area? He was a leader of the Jews so didn't he know that God's law forbade it? Verse 39 also makes it confusing because it stresses that she was a virgin, meaning he may not have killed her. After all, why would God honor a vow that went against His laws? But is also says that "he did to her as he had vowed" in the same verse. That, along with next verse, makes me think he went through with the vow and sacrificed his daughter.

All this goes to say we should watch what we promise, vow, and even say. What does Jesus say about this? During his Sermon on the Mount he preaches about vows (Mt 5:33-37). He says do not swear at all (v. 34). It all comes down to being a person of your word. That makes a person of integrity. If we say we'll do something and we do it ("let our 'yes' be 'yes'") then we wouldn't have to emphasize something we really mean to do with an oath or promise. Just watch what you say. That is my prayer for us all.

the teachings of Jesus

For part 2 of our Foundations of Faith series we looked at several of Jesus' teachings. We looked mostly in Matthew, but included a few more from Luke and John. Then we discussed the big themes of what Jesus was saying.

It is probably easier just to go through the various topics. Each topic is linked to the specific bible passage we went over. The topics ranged from repenting, to the beatitudes, settling quarrels, loving your enemies, prayer, money, worry, asking from the Lord, looking down on others, reconciling with your brother, humility, and the greatest commandment.

A good point was brought up in our high school class. In the passage with the Parable of the Lost Sheep, it sounds as if God is saying he loves those who come back to Him after being lost. And with the ones who remain faithful their whole lives, He is just like, "whatever." Not the case though. Nowhere in the Bible does it say that God loves some more than others- those who are more faithful or not. I didn't bring this up in class but if you remember when we studied the Parable of the Talents and the Parable of the Mina, there is a greater reward in heaven for those who bear more fruit through their serving. You can find that blog here.

There is no doubt that Jesus Christ was a great teacher while here on earth. I wanted to get at the big things though. What are three of the big messages that he was saying, just in regards to His teachings? (His miracles and claims to divinity is our lesson next week.)

The first two big messages I believe are found in John 15. The first section has Jesus making the analogy between Himself and His followers with a vine and its branches. Without Him, we cannot bear fruit. It doesn't say we cannot do good in the world. Those are two different things. This passage goes along with the greatest commandment in Matthew 22:34-40. Our relationship to Jesus Christ must be our #1 priority in life. We must believe in Him, first of all, and then strive to be closer to Him. That is the only way we will bear fruit.

The second big message follows in verses 12-17. We must show love to others. As a few of the teachings earlier say, we must even love our enemies and put others' needs before our own. In order to be great in the eyes of Jesus, we must lead a life of humility and serve others before ourselves.

So what does this add up to? I believe these teachings add up to the life that a Christ-follower should live that is very different from the world. One that is the least self-centered, least glory-seeking, and anxious about how we will be taken care of. After all, if God cares for the "birds" and the "lilies of the field," will He not care for you?

Vikings vs Saxons

No, I'm not talking about a period film. Last Friday we went to the highly anticipated Fremd vs. Schaumburg high school football game. It was quite a game, with Fremd coming out on top. Also worthy to note were the incredible amount of pink t-shirts worn to bring awareness and support those with breast cancer, as well as honor a mother who just passed away from breast cancer. All four of her sons played on the Fremd high school football team.

Foundations of Faith pt 1

This past Sunday, 10/1/07, we began our new series. This first half will be on the identity of Jesus. The second half will be about applications to the life of a Christian as a result. This first lesson was about how Jesus has been around since the beginning. So we touched on the Holy Trinity and looked over creation.

John 1:1-5 tells us this first fact, that Jesus is not someone who was just around for 33 years on earth. But rather, as part of a Holy Trinity that has always existed. And what is this Holy Trinity? It's not found in the Bible at all, but a Christian doctrine used to explain the existence of three parts of God existing as one. It's kind of like saying "me, myself, and I" except God (being God) can split those parts of Himself up.

So where was Jesus Christ when not on earth? Well, with God the Father up in heaven. When Jesus Christ came to earth, he put off the authority, power, and glory that He had in heaven (look at Philippians 2). After his resurrection and appearances to disciples and hundreds of others, He went back to be with God the Father.

So we went back to the beginning. THE beginning, hehe. If you don't know, there are actually two creation stories in the first couple chapters of Genesis. It may be a different version or perhaps just a summary. A way of God saying, "This is important! Pay attention to this!" Either way, it is this second account that mentions the tree of knowledge of good and evil, which leads to the first sin.

So God created the heavens and the earth. He created everything, including you! So He knows everything about you and designed you for a specific purpose. Once again, I used a segment from the book A Faith That Breathes as well as a paragraph from the first chapter of The Purpose Driven Life. Both of these passages make a point that, although, God created the heavens and earth and everyone, He (Jesus) had you specifically in mind for a particular task. I hope that shows everyone the range of how God has made all of this complex creation, yet still has the capacity to have a plan for each person.

Jonah

For youth group on Friday, 9/28/07, we did an overview of the book of Jonah. Jonah is a prime example of someone given a second chance by God, like quite a few characters in the Bible.

At the beginning, Jonah, is commanded by the Lord to go to Nineveh and preach against it. Instead , Jonah ran away towards Tarshish, to the west. Nineveh is approximately 500 miles northeast of Israel. As you can see, Jonah does not follow directions very well. Jonah ends up on a ship amidst a violent storm. Everyone is freaking out except for Jonah, who is able to fall into a deep sleep for some reason. The sailors end up casting lots to find out who is guilty. Lo and behold, it falls on Jonah! Jonah jumps ship, ends up in the middle of a big fish for 3 days, and finally makes it to Nineveh. He preaches and the whole country ends up repenting. And Jonah gets angry by that! That's the basic layout of Jonah. Now into some of the main points and details.

Why didn't Jonah rejoice over the repenting of Nineveh? First, it seems strange that a whole city of over 100,000 would do that, with the full support and decree of the king. Yet that is what happens, and it is legit. Chapter 4 is where Jonah expresses his anger over this. Why? It is jealousy, or something like it. Jonah, along with a whole lot of other Jews, believed God's message of salvation was just for them. Sharing it with a pagan nation was not what Jonah had in mind, yet that's what God called him to do. That's what God called Isreal to do- that is, bless the rest of the world.

Take Jonah's attitude and compare it to the sailors in the boat, who were pagan. The sailors in the boat did not follow the Lord God, yet they seemed to have more compassion for Jonah than Jonah had for the Ninevites (1:4-17). They didn't want to throw him overboard. They tried to row back to shore. As a last resort, they threw Jonah overboard, and the sea immediately grew calm. So through Jonah's disobedience, the Lord used it let sailors come to know Him.

In the big fish, Jonah prayed to the Lord (Ch. 2). This is a prayer of thanksgiving for not drowning. Let's not forget that Jonah is inside a fish! Despite his circumstances, he seems very calm during the prayer. He is certainly in no position to bargain with God. As in, "well if you save me from the fish, I'll preach to Nineveh." But seeing that God delivered Him from the storm, Jonah thanks the Lord and has faith that He will save him from the fish and vows to do what he promised to God.

Do you feel like you have messed up and therefore, God doesn't want to use you anymore? Be assured that way of thinking is wrong. God gives us, like Jonah, second chances.