Week of September 26, 2004
Know the story…Be the people…Expand the Kingdom.
If you would like to contribute to the eNews or converse with the editor, send an email to tfbyam1@hotmail.com.
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IN THE eNEWS THIS WEEK
REGULAR HAPPENINGS
POG—History...Why did he do it THAT way?
EVER NOTICE… sometimes life really stinks?
LECTIO DIVINA— Psalm 16:7-8
REVIEWS—Put yours here…
SERMON NOTES—Our Core Beliefs, Pastor Charlie
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REGULAR HAPPENINGS
WORSHIP GATHERING @ 9:15 am—Main Worship Center
“COFFEE HOUSE” @ 10:30ish—TFB Courtyard
SUNDAY COLLEGIUM @ 11 am—TFB College Room
Currently: POG History… Coming October 10: Being Community
TUESDAY GATHERING @ 7:15-9:00 pm on Tuesdays— TFB College Room
Currently: The Gospel According to Mark…
Coming October 5: Being Community: Paul’s Letter to the Philippians
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POG—History
[* POG = People Of God]
Why did he do it THAT way? 1 Samuel 16:1-13
Theme: God often chooses strange methods and odd people because he chooses for his own reasons and to his own purposes.
16:1-5 God often chooses strange methods despite our protests.
16:6-13 God often chooses odd peoples despite our preferences.
Get together with a friend. Working together, study the passage and list supporting evidence for each of the following:
16:1-5 God's strange method:When you have finished, share what you’ve learned.
16:1-5 Samuel's protest:
16:6-13 God's odd person:
16:6-13 Samuel's preferences:
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EVER NOTICE… sometimes life really stinks?
Everything seems to be going along swimmingly when, all of a sudden, something happens that brings questions with no answers. People around you—people in the know—say, “Trust me,” but you still have no answers. The fact is there may be no answers that help, and you're left shaking your head and muttering, “...but it shouldn't happen THAT way! Why?” During a particularly difficult year (note: a whole year!), a friend repeated the lyrics of a Cynthia Clausen song over and over as a reminder of the truth, in a time when the truth was too often hidden beneath grief:
“God is too wise to be mistaken. God is too good to be unkind. So when you don't understand, when you don't see His plan, When you can't trace His hand, trust His heart.”Before the bottom drops out, learn God's heart, so that when the bottom drops out, you can trust God's heart.
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LECTIO DIVINA— Psalm 16:7-8
Lectio Divina has four steps: lectio, meditation, oratio, and contemplatio The terms are a bit fancy, but the process is basic.
Step one: Lectio (read the passage once or twice aloud, then once or twice silently; your goal is to experience the passage rather than to merely understand it)
Step two: Meditatio (chew on the Word by focusing on a word or phrase that jumps out at you)
- What does this word/phrase bring to mind?
- What does this word/phrase feel like to me?
Step three: Oratio (conversation with God)
- God, what do you want me to do with what you’ve given me today?
Step four: Contemplatio (rest in God)
- Get quiet and simply be. In today’s noisy world, this is very difficult, so when the stray thoughts come—and they will—don’t stress out, just lay them down and move on.
Spend some time this next week and do a lectio on the following passage(s):
Psalm 16:7-8 I bless Yahweh who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart* instructs me. I have set Yahweh always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.* In the Old Testament, the biblical term “heart” primarily refers to what we would consider the mind.
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REVIEWS—Put yours here…
[this space left sadly blank…]
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SERMON NOTES—Our Core Beliefs, Pastor Charlie
September 26, 2004
Key perspectives in our approach to beliefs:
Unity in our core beliefs
Diversity in our non-core beliefs
Respect towards everyone
CORE BELIEFS
GOD IS THE CREATOR AND RULER OF THE UNIVERSE. Genesis 1:1; Psalm 90:2; Daniel 4:34-35
JESUS CHRIST IS THE SON OF GOD AND THE ONLY SAVIOR FOR HUMANITY. Philippians 2:6-8; Colossians 1:15-17; 1 Peter 2:24-25; Acts 1:3, 9-11; Acts 4:12
“You must make your choice. Either this Man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool; you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or your can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.” (C.S. Lewis)
THE HOLY SPIRIT IS GOD’S PRESENCE IN EVERY BELIEVER’S LIFE.
*The Holy Spirit works along side God the Father and God the Son to fulfill the plan of God in our lives. 1 Peter 1:2; John 14:16-17; 1 Corinthians 2:12
*The Holy Spirit lives in every Christian. Ephesians 1:13; 1 Corinthians 3:16
*The Holy Spirit provides the Christian with power for living. Acts 1:8
*Christians seek to live under His control daily. Galatians 5:25
The Trinity?
THE BIBLE IS GOD’S WRITTEN WORD.
*Unity: 66 books, written over a period of 1500 years with 40 different writers, yet consistent
*Authority: over 2,000 times in the Old Testament it says: ‘This is what the Lord says” or “The word of the Lord came to” 2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:20-21
*Historical integrity and verifiability
*Salvation Emphasis
PEOPLE ARE GOD’S SUPREME CREATION BUT ARE SEPARATED FROM GOD BY SIN Genesis 1:27; Romans 3:23; Romans 3:20; Matthew 5:21-22; 27-28
Sin means ‘missing the mark’.
SALVATION IS GOD’S FREE GIFT TO EVERY PERSON WHO RECEIVES JESUS CHRIST. Romans 6:23; Ephesians 2:8-9; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Romans 10:9
Salvation means ‘to rescue.’
ETERNITY CONSISTS OF LIVING WITH GOD IN HEAVEN OR APART FROM GOD IN HELL.
*Heaven is used to refer to the material universe beyond earth.
*Heaven is used to refer to the eternal dwelling place of God Matthew 6:9-10
*Hell is used to depict the final place of eternal punishment. Revelation 20:10; 12; 15
*Every person will face God’s judgment. Hebrews 9:27
*Every person decides their own eternal destiny. John 3:36
Summary
When God created human beings, He shared His own image and
likeness with them. This gift makes each individual far too significant to
live a brief, solitary life, and then cease to exist. Each human being
will exist beyond his or her physical death, to find a destiny in
eternity. The gift God gave man also brought with it personal
responsibility. Man was given the capacity to choose, and with that
capacity the possibility of making wrong, and even disastrous, choices.
Sin brought mankind under God’s wrath, for justice demands that sin be
punished. Yet human beings were too precious to God to be abandoned, so
through Jesus’ suffering and death, God provided salvation for everyone who
responds with faith to God’s offer of salvation; “God did not send his Son into
the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him”(John
3:18). God has acted, at great personal cost, to free every person from
the threat of eternal punishment. Only refusal to respond to God’s
revelation of Himself can now condemn an individual. The choice of each person’s
destiny is his or hers alone.
