YAM eNews Week of March 23, 2003

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IN THE eNEWS THIS WEEK

Calendar
Coming Up
Newsflash—Call for Contributions
Special—Thinking Through War
[Your Contribution Could Be Here]
Studying Romans with Pastor Charlie
Suggested Study Plan For Romans
The Gathering—What do we do now that we know why we’re here?
Tuesday Bible Study—Big Rocks
Soul Work—Contextualization

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CALENDAR

SUNDAYS

Worship @ 8:45 am—Main Worship Center
Current Study: Pastor Charlie is teaching through Paul’s Letter to the Romans

The Gathering @ 10 am—YAM room
Current Study: Laura is teaching, “What do we do now that we know why we’re here?”
Next Week: A worship experience led by Tom and Laura.
Coming up in two weeks: Tom on, “Is there evidence for Jesus’ resurrection?”
An online version is available weekly at http://tfbyam.blogspot.com/

Eating together (most weeks) @ 11:45 am—restaurant changes, meet in the patio or see Mike N


TUESDAYS

Bible Study @ 8 pm—YAM room
Current Study: Big Rocks, taught by Laura
An online version is available weekly at http://tfbyam.blogspot.com/

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COMING UP

SUNDAY May 4
@ 5:00 pm
SEE SPOT ROCK
visit http://www.seespotrock.com for more info

LABOR DAY WEEKEND, August 29 to September 1
COLLEGE BRIEFING
Forest Home
In our world we are often faced with hard and challenging situations.
What do you depend on during these times?
Jesus Alone!
…CHRIST IS ALL THAT MATTERS… Colossians 3:11 NLT
Cost: $145, $25 non-refundable deposit due at sign-up
Scholarships available, ask Laura
Visit Forest Home for info

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NEWSFLASH—Call for Contributions

This is an official call for contributions from your friendly neighborhood eNews editor/writer.

Whaddiya want, you ask...

Short articles on what you've seen, heard, smelled, tasted, touched
Poems
Songs
Movie, album, TV show, restaurant, etc. reviews

Anything meeting the following criteria:
true things
noble things
reputable things
authentic things
compelling things
gracious things
beautiful things
things to praise

(see Philippians 4 for more information ;-)

All offerings welcome, but there are rules:

1. As the editor, I will edit for grammar and spelling (using the ever faithful Microsoft Word). If I don’t get what you’re saying, I will send it back for clarification.

2. Weird is ok, but immoral is unacceptable, so keep it clean. I WILL edit out anything outside God’s box.

Oh, and by the way, the call goes out to the PASTORS who receive the eNews as well!!

Any stuff received by Sunday afternoon will be published that day…as long as it passes muster.

--Laura

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SPECIAL—THINKING THROUGH WAR

From Christianity Today
With the haze of the war's first shots still hanging in the air, no one can predict the outcome in Iraq. But we can trust that God is sovereign and works all things to the good of those who love him. Find articles on what God is doing among Iraqi Christians, and read stories of encouragement in God our provider and protector.


From Rick Warren, Pastor of Saddleback Church
The Bible is very practical here: it says “as much as it depends on you … as far as it's possible on your behalf, live at peace with everybody." However, I think this is also implying that sometimes it’s impossible to live at peace with others. Have you ever met someone who - no matter what you did - you just couldn't get along with? No matter what you did, he could not be appeased.

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[YOUR CONTRIBUTION COULD BE HERE]


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STUDYING ROMANS WITH PASTOR CHARLIE

The Christian View of Life
God’s Final Verdict
Romans 3:1-20

Main Sections of Romans
Sin—1:18-3:20
Salvation—3:21-5:21
Sanctification—6:1-8:39
Sovereignty—9:1-11:36
Service—12:1-15:13

Closing Arguments
1. Don’t throw out the baby with the bath water, v. 1-2. Rituals don’t save, but they are not useless.
2. Don’t think God is unfaithful just because you are, v. 3-4. God is faithful in spite of us.
Two types of promises:
Conditional—“If you do this, then I will do this.” Example: 2 Chronicles 7:14.
Unconditional—“I will do this no matter what you do.” Example: Psalm 89:30-33
3. Don’t make excuses for your sin, v. 5-8.
Excuses:
- My sin is okay because it shows how perfect God is, v. 5.
- My refusal to live by God’s truth enhances God’s truthful character, v. 7.
- The end justifies the means, v. 8.
- God is forgiving, so I can live any way I want.
4. Admit that you, along with everyone else, are in the same sinking boat, v. 9-20
- You keep on sinning.
- You keep running your own life.
- You refuse to be accountable to God.

FINAL VERDICT? Whether you are rebellious, respectable, or religious, you are guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

Now, look at verse 21. Notice the “but”? That’s the turn of a corner…next week, the good news begins. [Here’s a peek: Romans 8:1]


Thought questions:


--Charlie (lks)

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SUGGESTED STUDY PLAN FOR ROMANS
1. Read a chapter a day. When you’ve finished the book, start over. By the end of the series—about six months—you will have read Paul’s Letter to the Romans eleven or twelve times. How cool is that?
2. Memorize! Three plans:

LIGHT LOAD: memorize Romans 14:1-15:2—a total of 25 verses. Memorize one verse a week and you will finish in about six months.

MODERATE LOAD: memorize Romans 14:1-15:2 and Romans 12— a total of 46 verses. Memorize two verses a week and you will finish in about six months.

HEAVY LOAD: memorize Romans 12:1-15:13— a total of 71 verses. Memorize three verses a week and you will finish in about six months.

To know it, you gotta DO it!


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THE GATHERING
[also available at http://tfbyam.blogspot.com/]

What do we do now that we know why we’re here?

Review:
Purpose One—Worship: a whole, integrated life aimed at honoring God—whole heart, whole soul, whole mind. APPLICATION: begin to look for ways to worship God in all of life.
Purpose Two—Fellowship: a particular population in a common location. We are called to a body and, just like a detached arm is of little use, so a detached Christian is of little use. APPLICATION: Stone Soup lunches with other Sunday School classes—probably during summer.
Purpose Three—Discipleship: the spiritual disciplines APPLICATION: visit the spiritual disciplines site and choose one or two disciplines you would like to learn more about.
Purpose Four—Ministry: the church is a whole body. God gave gifts to each member of the body (see 1 Corinthians 12) God also gave gifts to the whole body—apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastor-teachers (see Ephesians 4:4-16). APPLICATION: take the SHAPE Inventory and start thinking about what God has shaped you to do in the body.

Purpose Five—Evangelism

Turn to 1 Corinthians 15:1-8

The first thing about evangelism is the gospel. In this passage, Paul gives us the essence—the central core—of the gospel. First, the gospel is the fact that Jesus died (v. 3). Jesus’ burial is empirical evidence for this—you don’t bury living people (unless you’re really mean!) Second, the gospel is the fact that Jesus rose from the dead. The sightings by many people are empirical evidence for the resurrection. That’s it. The central core of the gospel is that Jesus died and rose again. The hard part is figuring out how to put that into words unchurched people can relate to.

So, now we know the essence of the gospel. The other part of evangelism is conversion. Figuring out what we really mean by this will give us a handle on how to do evangelism. Conversion can be thought of two ways: as binary and as linear (love those math terms!). To think about this walk outside and find a plant. Plants are binary—they are either alive or dead. Dead is dead and alive is alive; there is no mushy grey area in between. Plants are also linear. Think about an acorn and an oak tree. The acorn and the oak tree are genetically the same; they are both oak. On the other hand, the acorn and the oak are obviously different; one is a seed and the other is full-grown. What does this mean for conversion? Well, conversion is first binary. One who trusts Christ to take care of the stain of sin passes from death to life. This is binary. Dead is dead and living is living. But conversion is also linear. From the time of initial new birth into life with God until we stand face to face with Jesus is heaven, life is continual change—continual growth.

Now back to evangelism. What does this all mean? Evangelism is telling the good news of Jesus’ death and resurrection in a way that maintains that truth, but communicates it in a way that the hearer can understand. Evangelism is also telling each other the good news—through words and through actions—so that the body is grown up into the likeness of Jesus. Evangelism is concerned with both binary and linear conversion. It is always both-and; it is never either-or.

APPLICATION: Start thinking about your unchurched friends and family. What words, stories, pictures, experiences, etc. could you use to share the good news with them?

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TUESDAY BIBLE STUDY

YAM Tuesday—Big Rocks
[also available at http://tfbyam.blogspot.com/]

Big Rock One: The Word: 2 Timothy 3:10-17; Deuteronomy 6:4-9
Big Rock Two: God: Psalm 145:17-21; Hebrews 12:4-11
Big Rock Three: Man: Genesis 1:26-31; 1 Corinthians 2:14-3:4

This week:
Big Rock Four: Sin: Genesis 2:25-3:7

First: Get out your bible and read the passage a few times.
Second: What do you notice—who, what, when, where, how?
Third: Divide the passage into chunks that make sense.
Fourth: Summarize each chunk with a crispy sentence.
Fifth: Using the passage as your guide, try to answer your questions.
Sixth: Ask yourself, “So what?” What difference does/should this passage make in your life?

Here’s a few thoughts from Tuesday:
- Before this story: Creation—very good!
- The story begins with the man and the woman completely innocent—naked and feeling no shame. Note this is sinless shamelessness, not today’s sinful shamelessness.
- No names are used in the story, the characters are man, woman, serpent. Seems fairly anonymous for the event that changed the world.
- The serpent deceives the woman with three tactics. In verse 1, he raises doubts about God’s command. In verse 4, he raises doubts about God’s truthfulness. Finally, in verse 5, he raises doubts about God’s motives.
- The woman responds by trusting herself, rather than trusting God.
- The man responds by trusting the woman rather than trusting God.
- The story ends with the man and the woman feeling naked and ashamed, and solving their problem by themselves.
- After this story: curses, the first murder, Tower of Babel, Flood. Get the picture?

Coming up...
Big Rock Four: Sin--Ephesians 2:1-3
Big Rock Five: Christ--Isaiah 9:1-7; John 1:14-18
Big Rock Six: Redemption--Isaiah 53:10-12; John 3:16-21
Big Rock Seven: Spirit--Ezekiel 36:22-32; John 16:5-15
Big Rock Eight: Church--Jeremiah 31:31-34; Ephesians 4:7-16
Big Rock Nine: Future--Daniel 7:13-14; Revelation 20:11-15

[the above preview may change, but it probably won't]
--Laura

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SOUL WORK—Contextualization

Part of sharing the good news effectively is learning how to tell it in ways that the hearer can relate to. This is called contextualization—“translating” the message to fit the cultural context of the listener. To find out more about contextualization, click here