YAM eNews Week of April 13, 2003

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IN THE eNEWS THIS WEEK

Calendar
Coming Up
NewsFlash—Summer Job at TFB
[Your Contribution Could Be Here]
Studying Romans with Pastor Charlie
Suggested Study Plan For Romans
The Gathering—Side Topic: Why should we to memorize scripture?
Tuesday Bible Study—Big Rocks
Soul Work—Miracles cannot happen

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CALENDAR

SUNDAYS

Worship @ 9:00 am—Main Worship Center [NOTE SPECIAL TIME FOR EASTER!!]
Current Study: Pastor Charlie is teaching through Paul’s Letter to the Romans

The Gathering @ 10 am—YAM room
NOTE: THERE IS NO GATHERING APRIL 20—MEET IN THE PATIO FOR FELLOWSHIP AFTER WORSHIP
Current Study: Tom on, “The Importance of Easter: What it means and what it doesn’t mean”
An online summary 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

SUMMER EVENTS… at least so far (send in your ideas!!)
Sparks games
Baseball
Weekend retreat

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 or Tom
Visit http://www.gospelcom.net/foresthome/collegebriefing2003.htm for info

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NEWSFLASH—SUMMER JOB AT TFB

Helper for Director of Christian Education (Lynne Foster)

Everything from grunt work to program planning
Ten weeks
$100 (before taxes) a week for a total of ten weeks = $1000
Payday is every two weeks

Contact Lynne Foster if interested:
tfbce@pacbell.net

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[YOUR CONTRIBUTION COULD BE HERE]


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STUDYING ROMANS WITH PASTOR CHARLIE

The Christian View of Life
How to believe God for a miracle
Romans 4:17-25

Definition of a miracle, vs. 17
- God giving new life to something that is dead
- God creating something out of nothing

Today’s passage talks about Abraham, a man who believed in a God who could do miracles.

THE SIX PHASES OF MIRACLE FAITH
Romans 4:18-22 and Genesis 12-22

Phase #1: God gives you a dream (a goal, a vision)
Genesis 12:1-3
When God called Abraham and promised to make him a great nation, Abraham was 75 years old and had no children. The dream was definitely beyond Abraham.

Phase #2: You make a decision
Genesis 12:4
Abraham packed up his stuff and left for only God knew where.

Phase #3: God delays his miracle.
Genesis 15:1-6
It is 11 year later and nothing has happened. Abram is now 86 years old and he still has no children. God renews the promise and gives Abraham a visual—the stars of the sky—to strengthen his faith.

Abraham responds with doubt, despair, and detour (fathering a son—Ishmael—with Hagar—Sarah’s maid, Genesis 16). By the way, Ishmael is the father of the Arab peoples, and there has been animosity between Arabs and Jews ever since.

Phase #4: You face overwhelming difficulties.
Genesis 17:1-6
Abraham is now 99 years old, and still he has no heir from Sarah. God is setting Abraham up for something completely beyond Abraham’s own ability.

Phase #5: You hit a dead end.
Genesis 22:1-12; Hebrews 11:17-19
The miracle child—Isaac—is born, but 12-15 years later, God asks Abraham to kill the miracle child. So Abraham is at least 112 years old and God is telling him to kill his only son. Ouch!

It comes down to one question: Is God more important than your perception of what God wants?

Phase #6: God delivers what he promised
Genesis 22:13-14

THE KIND OF FAITH GOD REWARDS
Romans 4:17-25

1. Faith in God, not in self, 4:17
2. Faith that is based on what God says, 4:18
3. Faith that faces the circumstances and looks beyond them, 4:19
4. Faith that praises God while waiting for fulfillment of the promise, 4:20

--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/]

From Tom:

Today was an informal but fun Sunday school, where the teachers outnumbered the student 2 to 1. But we had a great discussion. Mainly I brought up the issue of memorizing scripture and "what's the point?" This was a question posed to me by a fellow believer and actually, it's a good one.

Right now I must be brief to meet my editor’s deadline but let it suffice to say that memorizing scripture will help fill your soul in a very special way, especially because the time you must spend in study and repetition.

Laura brought up a great piece of scripture to help us understand why we should spend much time in God's Word ...

Deut 6:4-9 NASU

It is so awesome to dwell in the Word, to which I don't have words to describe.

Try it, it's great.

Have a great week!

Surrounded by the incredible love of God,

Tom

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TUESDAY BIBLE STUDY

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

YAM Tuesday—Big Rocks

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
Big Rock Four: Sin: Genesis 2:25-3:7; Ephesians 2:1-3
Big Rock Five: Christ--Isaiah 9:1-7

This week: Big Rock Five: Christ-- John 1:14-18

THE MENU
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:
- First, some definitions (from the Holman Bible Dictionary):
GLORY: weighty importance and shining majesty which accompany God’s presence.
GRACE: undeserved acceptance and love received form another.
TRUTH: that which is reliable and can be trusted; actual fact; correct knowledge; the biblical concept of truth is not conformity to a standard but faithfulness and reliability.
LAW: basically Torah; there are two types: 1) broad categorical laws which set forth general principles (for example, the Ten Commandments), 2) case law, usually in an “if…then…” format (for example, the laws regarding what to do if your ox kills another person’s ox)

- The big idea: The in-fleshed One and Only God, the Word …makes the invisible God to be visible and brings full grace and truth.

- Christian culture, like the Pharisaic culture of the first century, often demands conformity to a community standard for acceptance in the community. Given that Jesus gives the fullness of grace and truth, what should Christian culture be like? In what ways to you demand conformity to a standard? How might your assumptions change in light of this passage?
- The world says that truth is flexible, that it is created through community stories. This passage says that truth is embodied in a person—Jesus Christ. How does this relate the assumption that truth is flexible?

Coming up...

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— Miracles cannot happen

Before we can decide whether or not miracles can happen, we must first define what a miracle is. Basically, a miracle is an event that cannot be normally explained through the laws of nature. In the context of Christianity, miracles are the product and the work of God who created the natural laws as well as the universe.

Read the rest at CARM