We actually spent two weeks in chapter 2 of our Doctrine book, which focuses in on how God reveals Himself to humanity, particularly through the books of the Bible.
I am going to do something a little different this week. I am going to post a youtube video of a really, really smart guy buy the name of Ravi Zacharias talking about why we should believe in the Bible. Here is how he explained it to a bunch of college students, most of which, were probably not Christians.
He says some very deep stuff, here. Post some comments...start a conversation...ask questions.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHRP0I2SrVs&feature=related
Friday, February 18, 2011
Sunday, January 23, 2011
High School: The Trinity
Hey everyone,
I am getting ready to go out of town for a conference and do not have much time to write a lot about this morning's teaching. However, I think this video by Mark Driscoll is fantastic.
A lot of practical application:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddlH7FRSP0I&feature=channel
TJ
I am getting ready to go out of town for a conference and do not have much time to write a lot about this morning's teaching. However, I think this video by Mark Driscoll is fantastic.
A lot of practical application:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddlH7FRSP0I&feature=channel
TJ
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Middle School: How's Your Worship?
John 4:23 " But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way"
Worship.. what a "sensitive" subject. Seems like everyone has an idea of how worship should be conducted (as shown in our Middle School survey). Indeed, if you search today you may find every type of "worship style" from very traditional and liturgical to extreme contemporary laser light shows. But is this how we should be evaluating the effectiveness of our worship? Can you measure how well you worship? Is it how many times you attended, participated in prayer, heard the Bible, or well you sing?
From the passage above we are told that the Father seeks worshipers. Some times (all times?) God actually initiates the worship as when the prophet Isaiah was called to worship in Isaiah chapter 6. For Isaiah this was a "significant spiritual / emotional event". Similar to Saul on the road to Damascus there is no doubt he experienced our Lord's presence. We read in John 4 that true worship does not depend on your location, position, our church arrangement, but your spiritual relationship. John also tells us It also requires listening to Truth. And how do we measure truth? By God's Word of course.. the only source of truth.
So how do you measure your worship? When listening to the truth, be it scripture read or a sermon spoken, Ask yourself "What am I learning about God"? Next, ask yourself "What is He asking me to do?" In the Isaiah passage he immediately volunteered for service. "Here I am Lord.. Send Me". This only occured after he had done something else. He Confessed his Sins. Effective worship will most always result in a realization of how great and Holy God is compared to our sinful lives. God calls us to confess our sins and draws us close to him in relationship. Following this you want to tell him of your love, either through prayer or song.
So How's Your worship? How are your experiencing God's presence? Are your experiencing God's Truth.. Is His Word Alive? Do you feel the call to Praise Him? Confess your Sins? Do you feel the need to serve others?
Tim
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
High School: Everyone is a Theologian
Scripture: Romans 12:2 and Jeremiah 17:9
Last year I had the opportunity to hear Tony Campolo, an old Baptist preacher, teach. During his message, he was sharing the story of a time when he was preaching on loving people the way that Christ loves people. During that time he elaborated on a lot of the issues facing the Church today and he made the comment that Christians should spend more time loving homosexuals than condemning them. After the service, he told us, a man angrily came up to him and said, "Your preaching is heresy!" Dr. Campolo replied, "How is the love of Christ heresy?" Feeling stumped, the man blurted out, "Well, you're no theologian!"
At that point, Dr. Campolo responded, "Sure I am because everyone is a theologian. Everyone has views on God."
I couldn't agree with him more. Theology is the study of God, and everyone has a belief about God. Everyone at one point in time has to face what they truly believe about Him. Some go on to think very deeply about Him, others only just scratch the surface...but, the truth remains that everyone is a theologian of some sort.
Here is the question that I want to focus on before we start our series:
Why study theology? Because you're going to do it anyway.
There are certain points in life that force you to ask the hard questions about God...so studying theology is unavoidable. With that said, Christians have passed on 2000 years of theological understanding to us. Who are we to ignore what they have worked so hard on?
As Christians, we should be compelled to study theology because of our desire to know God more closely. Christian theology takes us beyond just beliefs and ideas about God, and actually helps to grow closer to God Himself. It is not just about KNOWING ABOUT God, but it is more about KNOWING God.
Lastly, we should study theology because we know that transformation only comes through the "renewing of our minds," and that the, "heart is deceptive above all else." We live in an age where people are encourage to follow their hearts. The problem with this is obvious...Jeremiah says that our hearts are deceptive. It is not that we should say, "forget the heart then." No, we just lead our hearts with our heads. For example, a person will not ever FEEL compelled to love an enemy, but, because of our theology we seek to love them.
So, as we begin the study in, "Doctrine," take time to ask yourself some important questions.
"Do I see myself as a theologian?"
"Do I have a passion for studying God? Why or why not?"
"What are some things about God that I would really like to know about?"
Here is a video clip of Tim Keller on the importance of theology:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xG1XNrDQGM
Last year I had the opportunity to hear Tony Campolo, an old Baptist preacher, teach. During his message, he was sharing the story of a time when he was preaching on loving people the way that Christ loves people. During that time he elaborated on a lot of the issues facing the Church today and he made the comment that Christians should spend more time loving homosexuals than condemning them. After the service, he told us, a man angrily came up to him and said, "Your preaching is heresy!" Dr. Campolo replied, "How is the love of Christ heresy?" Feeling stumped, the man blurted out, "Well, you're no theologian!"
At that point, Dr. Campolo responded, "Sure I am because everyone is a theologian. Everyone has views on God."
I couldn't agree with him more. Theology is the study of God, and everyone has a belief about God. Everyone at one point in time has to face what they truly believe about Him. Some go on to think very deeply about Him, others only just scratch the surface...but, the truth remains that everyone is a theologian of some sort.
Here is the question that I want to focus on before we start our series:
Why study theology? Because you're going to do it anyway.
There are certain points in life that force you to ask the hard questions about God...so studying theology is unavoidable. With that said, Christians have passed on 2000 years of theological understanding to us. Who are we to ignore what they have worked so hard on?
As Christians, we should be compelled to study theology because of our desire to know God more closely. Christian theology takes us beyond just beliefs and ideas about God, and actually helps to grow closer to God Himself. It is not just about KNOWING ABOUT God, but it is more about KNOWING God.
Lastly, we should study theology because we know that transformation only comes through the "renewing of our minds," and that the, "heart is deceptive above all else." We live in an age where people are encourage to follow their hearts. The problem with this is obvious...Jeremiah says that our hearts are deceptive. It is not that we should say, "forget the heart then." No, we just lead our hearts with our heads. For example, a person will not ever FEEL compelled to love an enemy, but, because of our theology we seek to love them.
So, as we begin the study in, "Doctrine," take time to ask yourself some important questions.
"Do I see myself as a theologian?"
"Do I have a passion for studying God? Why or why not?"
"What are some things about God that I would really like to know about?"
Here is a video clip of Tim Keller on the importance of theology:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xG1XNrDQGM
Friday, December 31, 2010
As Christians, many of us have the main themes of Scripture down...at least for the most part. We understand that God is Creator of all things. We find it easy to accept that Jesus was born of a virgin. And, for the most part, we understand the Cross and Jesus' resurrection, and what those events mean for us.
However, many of us tend to overlook what happened after the resurrection of Jesus, and probably have spent very little time thinking about His ascension into heaven and the gift that God has given us. I am talking about the Holy-Spirit. Many of us live life in such a way where we ignore Pentecost (Pentecost was the day when the Holy-Spirit was poured out upon the early church). And, especially as Reformed Christians, we tend to leave the Holy-Spirit out of our worldview.
Here's the deal: Whenever we ignore the Holy-Spirit we ignore God. Whenever we leave the Holy-Spirit out we are leaving God out, since the Holy-Spirit is God. This has HUGE consequences for us, especially our prayer life. It is only through the Holy-Spirit that we can have a direct relationship with God. This is exactly what Jesus tells the Samaritan woman in John 4:21-24. He says in one part of that passage: "True worshipers will worship the Father in the SPIRIT and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and His worshipers must worship in the SPIRIT and in truth."
Who does the Father seek? Those who worship in the Spirit and in truth.
Do we worship in the Spirit? Do we worship in light of the "truth" of the Spirit? Or, to put it another way...do we truly worship in the Spirit of God? What about you?
What does it look like to worship
However, many of us tend to overlook what happened after the resurrection of Jesus, and probably have spent very little time thinking about His ascension into heaven and the gift that God has given us. I am talking about the Holy-Spirit. Many of us live life in such a way where we ignore Pentecost (Pentecost was the day when the Holy-Spirit was poured out upon the early church). And, especially as Reformed Christians, we tend to leave the Holy-Spirit out of our worldview.
Here's the deal: Whenever we ignore the Holy-Spirit we ignore God. Whenever we leave the Holy-Spirit out we are leaving God out, since the Holy-Spirit is God. This has HUGE consequences for us, especially our prayer life. It is only through the Holy-Spirit that we can have a direct relationship with God. This is exactly what Jesus tells the Samaritan woman in John 4:21-24. He says in one part of that passage: "True worshipers will worship the Father in the SPIRIT and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and His worshipers must worship in the SPIRIT and in truth."
Who does the Father seek? Those who worship in the Spirit and in truth.
Do we worship in the Spirit? Do we worship in light of the "truth" of the Spirit? Or, to put it another way...do we truly worship in the Spirit of God? What about you?
What does it look like to worship
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