YAM eNews Week of May 4, 2003
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IN THE eNEWS THIS WEEK
Calendar
Coming Up
NewsFlash—Summer Job at TFB
NewsFlash—Training Day
[Your Contribution Could Be Here]—
Studying Romans with Pastor Charlie
Suggested Study Plan For Romans
The Gathering—Resurrection: 1 Corinthians 15:1-19
Tuesday Bible Study—Big Rocks
Soul Work—Thought Question
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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
SATURDAY, June 14
9:00 am to 12:30 pm
TRAINING DAY: UNIQUELY YOU
Trying to figure out what you were made for?
Discover your divine design!
SUMMER EVENTS… at least so far (send in your ideas!!)
Sparks games
Baseball
Weekend retreat
Taco Saturday
Pool Party
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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NEWSFLASH—TRAINING DAY
June 14
9:00 am to 12:30 pm
Every YAM student and leader is expected to attend Uniquely You on June 14.
Price is $25
If you need assistance, scholarships are available.
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[YOUR CONTRIBUTION COULD BE HERE]
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STUDYING ROMANS WITH PASTOR CHARLIE
The Christian View of Life
HOW GOD USES SUFFERING IN OUR LIVES
Romans 5:3-4
What we should be rejoicing about:
- We ought to rejoice in hope, 5:2
- We are to rejoice in our suffering, 5:3
- We are to rejoice in God, 5:11
What God Wants to Produce in us Through Suffering
- Perseverance: the opposite of panic, 2 Corinthians 1:8-9; the lesson learned here is “I can’t handle it, but God can.”
- Character: (1) something that is tested and proven reliable, (2) something that reflects Christ-like qualities, Hebrews 2:10; James 1:2-4
- Hope: Philippians 4:13
Attitudes Toward Suffering that Counteract God’s Work
- Rebellion : refusal to let God in the suffering, 1 Samuel 4:13
- Resignation: just grin and bear it
- Complaining: we all know what this is, 1 Corinthians 10:10; Philippians 2:14-16a
- Worry: tormenting oneself with disturbing thoughts, 1 Peter 5:7; Philippians 4:6-7
Quote from Lawrence O. Richards: “Both anxiety and worry spring from natural and legitimate concerns that are part of life in the world. But legitimate concerns are handled wrongly when they do one or more of the following: 1) become dominating concerns in our life and lead to fear, 2) destroy our perspective on life and cause us to forget that God exists and cares, 3) move us to drift into an attitude of constant worry and concern over a future that we cannot control.”
- Fear: not trusting God, thinking, “I thought you really loved me,” 2 Timothy 1:7; Isaiah 43:1-3a
- Self Pity: woe is me… you should really feel sorry for me.
--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...
Hi everyone. Hope everbody's been having a good week. I know finals are just around the corner for many. I hope the studying goes well.
Today we talked about 1 Cor 15:1-19. In this chapter Paul is talking to the Corinthians about an apparent problem they're having regarding bodily resurrection. In this particular case, not Jesus' but our eventual resurrection. The Corinthians for the most part believed in Jesus and were in fact Christians but many doubted we also will be resurrected by God.
Paul first establishes the fact they have received the word and are believers. Then that Christ was buried and raised on the third day. Paul then mentions many of the post resurrections appearances Jesus made. Most of the witnesses were still alive at the time Paul wrote this letter. This would mean people in doubt could check it out for themselves, ask questions. It would have been very foolish of Paul to give this list of people if it were all a lie.
Paul then talks about last of all, Jesus appeared to him. Paul calls himself the least of the apostles because he persecuted the church. We should all remember that Paul was Saul, the persecutor of Christians. Paul was the Pharisee's Pharisee. He was intelligent, educated, and a passionate Jew, and extremely well versed in Jewish law, the (OT) scripture, etc. He also had a strong dislike for these new Christians. These followers of the "Christ". The one side note I'd like to add here, is as believers in Christ, it no longer matters where we were in our walk with God, especially if things were bad. God can use us and all our experiences, good and bad. There are experiences we've had that may help us relate to others who don't know Jesus and even those who do. Back to Paul. Well, Paul is now on fire for the Lord and he says so, but acknowledges it's not from him but from God.
In the next section of text, Paul uses some simple but great logic. He's saying how can some of you say there is no resurrection of the dead? Since Christ is fully human and fully God, He does have a physical body. Paul's established that they hold Christian beliefs and as Christians would believe that Jesus had been raised. But, if someone is saying the dead are not raised, how can they say that Christ has been raised. He was a man, He died, He was raised. So the dead have been raised, right? If the dead haven't been truly raised, then Christ hasn't been raised either, and if He hasn't been raised ... Paul says his preaching has been in vain, their faith has been vain, they've testified against God because they said God had raised Him from the dead, and the over all consequence is our faith is worthless, we are still in our sins, those who believed in Christ who have died are just dead, and we're just a bunch of pitiful people who have hoped in Christ for our eternity with God, but it's only for this life. Remember how Paul mentioned all those witnesses? All someone would have to do is go seek out some of those people. If they found Jesus hadn't been raised, Christianity all becomes a lie. Paul hinges it all on that. This wouldn't be a very good tact for Paul to take if it were all a lie. Paul and most all the apostles gave their lives for Christ because they saw Him die and saw Him raised.
Paul spent a lot of time in prison for his beliefs. Would he have done that if he knew or even thought it was a lie? Would he have gladly given his life if he knew it was a lie? Would the apostles go from trembling and fear to the bold leaders they became for what they knew was a lie? Can you think of anyone, in any circumstance who would give their life for a lie? I don't think so. Can you think of anyone who would give their life for something they knew was true? I'd say without a doubt!
Well, I ended today at verse 19. But looking one verse ahead, Paul says "But now Christ has been raised from the dead..." So you can read ahead or wait until next week (if you can stand the suspense!) when we continue and learn about our future lives with Christ and the impending transformation of our own bodies?!?!?!?!
Have a great week, study hard, pray hard!
In God's Love
Tom
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TUESDAY BIBLE STUDY
YAM Tuesday—Big Rocks
[also available at http://tfbyam.blogspot.com/]
[A "Big Rocks" study booklet will be available in a few weeks. Send an email if you're interested.]
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; John 1:14-18
Big Rock Five: Redemption-- Isaiah 53:10-12; John 3:16-21
Laura was as sick as a dog, so YAM Tuesday did not meet this week. She’s getting better, so we’re on for the sixth.
Coming up...
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—Thought Question
How are you being a Christ follower?
Can you answer that question without talking about different things you are doing? It’s a tough question, but a crucial question. Christianity is about being, not about doing. So, how are you being a Christ follower?
