YAM eNews Week of April 6, 2003
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IN THE eNEWS THIS WEEK
Calendar
Coming Up
[Your Contribution Could Be Here]
Studying Romans with Pastor Charlie
Suggested Study Plan For Romans
The Gathering—The Importance of Easter
Funnies—Peeps Research (just in time for Easter :)
Tuesday Bible Study—Big Rocks
Soul Work—Reasonable Faith
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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: 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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[YOUR CONTRIBUTION COULD BE HERE]
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STUDYING ROMANS WITH PASTOR CHARLIE
The Christian View of Life
What God has done for you
Romans 4:1-16
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
Read the passage.
The act of God accepting us: People are declared not guilty by God and given a righteous standing before God when they choose to put their trust in Jesus Christ to save them.
[DEFS]
Justified: to be declared not guilty, legally acquitted of all crimes.
Credited: to compute, to count
WHAT WE CAN TO DO TE COME ACCEPTABLE TO GOD
1. We need to stop trying to gain gods acceptance through good works, v. 1-8. (see Genesis 12:2-3 and 15:1-6 for background information on Abraham)
2. We need to stop trying to gain God’s acceptance through religious activity, v. 9-12.
- Abraham got right with God through faith before circumcision was instituted, v. 9 (see Genesis 15 and 17)
- Circumcision is a symbol of faith not a cause of faith, v. 11. (it’s like the USDA stamp on meat; the stamp does not make the meat good, it simply tells us the meat is good
3. We need to stop trying to gain God’s acceptance by keeping the law, v. 13-15. (Abraham was declared righteous 430 years before the Law was given)
4. We gain God’s acceptance by placing our trust in him, v. 16.
KEY REASONS OUR ACCEPTANCE BY GOD IS BASED ONLY ON FAITH
1. So our salvation is God’s gift to us, v. 16
2. So our salvation is guaranteed by God, v. 16
--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 we started discussing the importance of Easter. What it means (Christ's Resurrection) and what it doesn't mean (the Easter Bunny).
I feel Easter is probably the most important event in man's history since Creation. It was the culmination of Jesus' ministry and the fulfillment of so much Old Testament prophecy. And as Paul says:
1 Cor 15:17
"...if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. "
NASU
Therefore, we'd be no better off now than we were before Christ came. Because Christ Himself said He'd be raised on the third day. From Matthew ...
17:22-23
"And while they were gathering together in Galilee, Jesus said to them, "The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men; and they will kill Him, and He will be raised on the third day." And they were deeply grieved."
NASU
If He hadn't been raised, then it would mean Jesus was either a liar or a lunatic. And we'd have no reason to trust or believe anything He said. Over the next few weeks, we'll be examining much of the evidence showing that the resurrection was in fact historically true. We'll talk about Jesus' burial, the empty tomb, His postmortem appearances, and what I feel is one of the strongest pieces of evidence, was the new found courage and boldness the apostles had to go and spread the gospel.
From John 20:19
19 So when it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, "Peace be with you."
NASU
What changed them so significantly that they went from hiding in this room in fear, to going out, spreading the Word, and be willing to die for their Savior? Would you be willing to die for something you knew was a lie?
If you have any questions, if there are issues about the resurrection that seem shaky to you, if you think you've found the missing key to what really happened, e-mail me and/or bring you hearts and minds to class next week and let's discuss it.
You all have a great week,
His servant,
Tom
ironmantmw@juno.com
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FUNNIES—Peeps Research (just in time for Easter :)
1. Those resilient little birds...
As we plunge into the 21st century, it is time we take a closer look at the technological wonders we create. Here, we try to discover just a little bit more about the world around us through the miracles of science, technology, and preservatives.
We hope you enjoy this educational tour as we work to characterize everybody's favorite Easter candy, the Marshmallow Peep.
http://www.peepresearch.org/
Here’s a research project for anyone who cares to accept it: what in the world do bunnies, chicks, and eggs have to do with the resurrection of Jesus??
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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
Big Rock Four: Sin: Genesis 2:25-3:7; Ephesians 2:1-3
This week: Big Rock Five: Christ--Isaiah 9:1-7
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:
- This is a major passage in the study of “but-ology.” Verse one sets the tone: “…in the past…BUT in the future…”
- Not long before Isaiah was prophesying, the northern kingdom of Israel (including Zebulun and Naphtali, v. 1) was taken into captivity by Assyria (in 722 BC). The southern kingdom of Judah was to be taken by Babylon in 586 BC. You can see from this that the future did not look bright. This is where the “but” comes in. Yahweh promises that One is coming who will finally defeat the enemies, who will break burdens, whose rule and peace (presence of wholeness, not absence of war!) will have no end.
- Here’s something to think about: How does this picture of Messiah compare with the picture of Messiah in the Gospels? In Revelation?
Coming up...
Big Rock Five: Christ-- 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—
Reasonable Faith (Wheaton: Crossway Books, 1994) William Lane Craig
The origin of Christianity owns itself to the belief of the earliest disciples that God had raised Jesus from the dead. That belief cannot be accounted for in terms of either Christian, pagan, or Jewish influences. Even if we grant, for the sake of argument, that the tomb was somehow emptied and the disciples saw hallucinations - which we have seen to be false anyway - the origin of the belief in Jesus' resurrection still cannot be explained. Such events would only have led the disciples to say that Jesus had been translated, not resurrected. The origin of the Christian faith is therefore inexplicable unless Jesus really rose from the dead.
Source: http://www.afterall.net/citizens/moreland/
