To Those Who Read This....

Hey Guys,

This summer will truly be one for ages! Coming up this week, we have our first Beach Day on Friday the 25th! We will meet at 9:30am at Little Egg Harbor Intermediate School. We will return at 2:30. I hope all of you guys can make it out.

Starting on Mondays in July, we will be starting our Beach, Bible and Breakfast! We will meet every Monday, at the VFW at 30 Gifford Rd. We will meet at 9am and return at 3pm. We will provide you with breakfast and transportation to the beach. We hope to see everyone of you guys there. We will be studying the Sermon on the Mount and how Jesus works in our lives.

A calendar for July is on the Website. www.pinelandschurch.org. Also, if you guys are looking for something to read, here is a link to an audio sermon by Mark Driscol on what the Church actually is. Take a listen: http://www.acts29network.org/sermon/what-is-the-church/

If you need to talk, have questions, call me or e-mail.

God Bless
Steve

Revelation 1:5-8

And from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and released us from our sins by His blood - and He has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father - to Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. So it is to be. Amen. "I am the Alpha and the Omega'" says the Lord God, "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty."

This picture of Jesus and God out father is awesome!! I hope you guys take this picture and dwell on it. If we do, our reverance and awe of God will surely multiply. I hope you all are having a great week!

God Bless,
Steve

Dating, Sex and Us

Hey Guys. We are going to be finishing up our series on Sex, Dating and what that has to do with us. I just really want to say that to those of you guys who will read this post that this is serious stuff. If we think that we can do whatever we want and God won't find out about it, we are wrong. Our goal right here and now is to live "Holy" lives. That means set-apart, for Jesus. 1 Peter 1:15 - "but as he who called (saved) you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct."

I want us to know and really believe that what God has for us in marriage is worth so much more than anything we can do, or take right now. Because ultimately, God wants us to experience how great sex really is. But we have blatantly disobeyed and sometimes we think it is impossible to go back. That is not true at all. If we are Christians, all we have to do is ask Jesus for forgiveness of our sin. And He will!!

If you guys are struggling with anything, please confess your sin and talk to me about things! I want to help and I want to see you guys grow in your faith with Jesus!! E-mail stvn.carvalho@gmail.com, me anytime!

God Bless
Steve

It looks like you have a case of the Mondays

Hey Guys,

I don't know about you guys, but when Monday's roll around, sometimes I want to stay in bed and sleep. The feeling of being lazy and not wanting to do anything is a feeling that creeps over your mind. Maybe for you guys it looks like this, "Man, I don't want to go to school. I bet I can get my mom to let me stay home today." Than you either put on the sick act or just say your not going and that is that.

When this happens, something that helps me to realize I need to get up is Jesus. Because we are His image bearers and Light reflectors, we have to get up to show people who we are, Christians who love Jesus and want to show others whom He is. The next time you start to get the "Mondays" itch, remind yourself that Jesus wants us to show others and tell them about Him! Get up, pray and get ready for your day!

God Bless,
Steve

Reflections on Philadelphia

Hey Guys,

Like I said I wanted to keep this site updated more often, but as soon as I said that, we went on a mission's trip for a week and I couldn't use a computer. So for those of you guys who didn't go on the trip and for those of you guys who did, I wanted to share a little bit as to what happened during the trip.

First and foremost - Praise God for who He is and His ability to keep us safe and secure. The neighborhood we stayed was not the best but He got us through and gave us a fine time as well!

Everyone who went on the trip played an integral part of the dynamic that was Philadelphia 09. I am so glad and thankful for everyone who went and had the opportunity to minister to these different people. Thank You guys for coming and making this a trip that I will never forget.

The city is an amazing thing and even though I felt like I needed a shower when I left it, it always gives me an appreciation for the diversity and greatness that it is. I am starting to love the city more and more and not being as scared of it either!

The different ministries that we got to work with were great, though a bit unorganized at times, were great demonstrations of what it means to be helpers, servers and lovers of people. Thank you to Manna, Sunday Breakfast Rescue Mission, City Team, Philabundance, Open Air Campaigners and Bethel Temple Comm. Bible Church for your work.

For those of you guys who didn't get to go, we wish you were there!

Thank You All!

God Bless
Steve

Wow. It has Been Awhile!

Hey Guys!

I just wanted to say happy Easter Season to everyone! I don't think too many of you guys check this out anymore, but I am going to try and stay diligent and at least post something once a week. So that is the update for now.

Jr. High - JAM is open and ready to be signed up for!

Sr. High - Hatteras is open and ready to be signed up for. Spots are limited so please sign up soon to secure your spot!

Youth Group is tonight, normal time and place: We however be meeting only in the gym for tonight!

God Bless
Steve

Sr. High Misconceptions Pt 3: No Hope

We are continuing our message series about “Misconceptions about Jesus”

2 weeks ago we looked at Jesus wants to be left alone – Too important

- Not true
1. He created to have relationships
2. Jesus helped people while He was here on Earth

Last week we looked at the fact that when we become Christians we have not follow rules and not have any fun

- Not True!!
1. Not about Rules but a relationship
2. Jesus loves humor and that He was funny
3. Our Priorities change when we further our faith or believe in Christ


This week we are going to see how there is no hope for anyone. Again just a teaching tool.


Misconception #1
Jesus came to this earth to point out everyone’s sin and make Himself look good

1. Jesus didn’t come to point out sin in people’s lives, rather to save people from that sin.
- When we see people in different area’s life, we see different modes used by Jesus to show people that He was the Messiah that can take away their sin
- The same is true today. People learn in different ways. Some listening, interacting, visible

Broken
- John 8:3-11
- This lady knew her sin and her sin deserved death
- He forgave her and did not have to convict her of her sin, rather to turn from it

Everyday People
- Matthew 13:1-9
- He teaches in parables b/c those who wanted to know more would seek Him and ask questions
- Same thing is true today, sometimes things in the Bible are hard to understand but those who want to know about Jesus are going to seek out the answers.



Religious People
- Matthew 23:25-28
- Jesus is showing them the condition of their heart
- These people thought they were good and right before God but they were not!!
- They were so far away!!
- Jesus was trying to show them what they were really like

Where would you place yourself in this list? What is Christ trying to show you tonight?


Misconception #2
There is no hope for any of us.

We have hope in our risen Savior!!


1 Corinthians 15:12-19

- Our faith rests on the fact that Jesus Christ rose from the dead!!
- Our hope is that we found in Him and trust in Him as our savior from sin, nothing else.
No other religious leader has died in full view of trained executioners, had a guarded tomb, and then risen three days later to appear to many many people. This resurrection is proof of who Jesus is and that He did accomplish what He set out to do: provide the only means of redemption for mankind.
Buddha did not rise from the dead. Muhammad did not rise from the dead. Confucius did not rise from the dead. Krishna did not rise from the dead, etc. Only Jesus has physically risen from the dead, walked on water, claimed to be God, and raised others from the dead. He has conquered death. Why trust anyone else? Why trust anyone who can be held by physical death when we have a Messiah who is greater than death itself.
Questions – Talk to me!!!


Announcements:
1. Calendars
2. Phil Wickham. Dec 5th, $12 – Need by Wed Dec 3
3. Ready Set Rake! 10 am @ LEHIS Bring food or $$ and Rakes!
4. No YG next week. Happy Thanks giving

Jr. High - Proverbs pt 3: Anger, Fear & Laziness

Review:

Who wrote most of the proverbs and why?
- Solomon, One of the smartest men ever

Who did he write it to?
- Us, “My Sons, My Sons”

What did we talk about the past two weeks?
- Week1 – Wisdom and Understanding
- Week 2 – Sin

This week we are focusing on 3 different things – Fear, Anger and Laziness


Anger

Proverbs 14:29

- Patient – What does patients look like? When someone displays patients, they are what?

Opposite

- Quick-tempered man displays folly or foolishness
- What is quick-tempered? Someone who gets angry easy

Why would this person be foolish?
We all need to be patient with each other because God is patient with us. When we sin, he always forgives us if we confess it to Him.

So when we are being patient with people we are showing them God’s love.

Proverbs 29:22

- Dissention – Arguing amongst people that shouldn’t argue
- So someone who is angry does this.
- That person also commits many sins.
- Ephesians 4:26-27
- When we let anger build up inside of us, it is no good for anyone
- Maybe you guys know angry people, maybe you’re an angry person, don’t be the cause and don’t let people



Fear

Proverbs 1:7

- Fear doesn’t always have to be scary
- Fear can be a good thing – This fear is respect and knowing God
- We know and respect God through Jesus – What He did for us and the relationship we have with Him. God becomes our Father!!


Proverbs 29:25

- When we start to fear people and things and ideas, we are not focusing on God
Example: One summer night during a severe thunderstorm a mother was tucking her small son into bed. She was about to turn the light off when he asked in a trembling voice, "Mommy, will you stay with me all night?" Smiling, the mother gave him a warm, reassuring hug and said tenderly, "I can't dear. I have to sleep in Daddy's room." A long silence followed. At last it was broken by a shaky voice saying, "The big sissy!"
- When we let fear stick on us, than we can get paralyzed!!
- I’m not talking about little things, Spiders etc, rather bug things – not letting you enjoy life.

Laziness

Proverbs 12:27

- Before you roast or cook something what do you have to do?
- Catch it
- Back than no grocery stores, but the principal remains the same

If you are going to be lazy your not going to be able to live.

Proverbs 22:13

- Always making excuses as to why they are not doing something
- Blaming other people or things for their sin or laziness

“Some people would do anything to be able to do no nothing”

Announcements:
1. Calendar
2. Ready – Sat 10 am LEHI Bring $$ or food and Rakes
3. Phil Wickham Dec 5th $12 – Need by Dec 3rd
4. No YG next week

11-12-08 Sr. High Misconceptions #2 Football!!

11-12-08
Misconceptions About Jesus Pt 2 – Football!!


Last week we started our series on Misconceptions About Jesus and Christianity.

What did we define a Misconception as?


What misconceptions about Jesus did we tackle last week?
1. Jesus wants to be left alone
a. He created us to have relationships – Gen
b. The doctrine of the Trinity – Luke

2. Jesus is too important to be bothered by people
a. He was always around people helping them - Gospels
b. It would go against His very nature – Matt


This week our message is entitled Football!!

Misconception #1 –Being a Christian means you have to follow rules and you can’t have any fun
People think that all Christians are these people who where ties and dresses, smile all the time and have nothing better to do than point at other people’s mistakes. Not True!!

1. “It is not about rules it’s about a relationship”
- When you get into a relationship with anyone (BF-GF, Friend, whatever..) What do you do? Most of the time, you treat other people with respect and love.
- If we don’t, what would happen? We would not have any relationships. No one would love us
- Same is true in our relationship with Jesus. Mark 12:28-31
- In our relationship with Him, we obviously want to love God back!! And love others!!
- We see that when Christ tells us to do or not to do something it is because He loves us and wants to see the best for us. So when we see that we should lay off the partying and sex, hatred and lying, it is not because He wants to put rules in our lives, it’s bc He wants to have a great relationship with us and knows that those things will hurt us.
- Maybe some of you guys here tonight are having a problem keeping up that end of the deal. You know that God keeps on loving you but your not reciprocating the love back to Him.
- So like I said it is not about rules it is about a relationship




2. “No Fun?”
- The voice of Jesus tells everyone that they are not allowed to have any fun, also when the guy comes in and Jesus tells him that he can’t love football anymore.
- People often think that becoming a Christian or deepening your Faith in Jesus means that my fun days are over!! Not True!!
- From my own personal experience, the best times I ever had was when I was Christian!
- But also, did you know that Jesus was a funny guy??
- 2 examples from His teaching
a. Plank in your eye and splinter in someone else’s eye
b. Camel through the eye of a needle
- Hilarious!!
- People thought that Jesus was this somber guy who went around never experiencing life’s emotions!! Not True
- Who did He hang around with? 12 guys!!! They had to have some kind of finger pulling going on!!
- Recap!


Misconception #2 – When you become a Christian you have to give up the things you love!!

1. In the Video, near the end, Jesus said that the guy could become a Christian by burning all of his footballs and never missing a church meeting

- A lot of times people think that they will have to give up what they love doing if they become a Christian
- Far from the case!!
- The Bible teaches that, because of this sin you and I have in our lives, we are cut off from God and we deserve to die and go to hell. But Jesus came to fix that problem, He died on the cross in our place for our sin!! So that if we believe in Him that he accomplished this, than we get to go Heaven!! We are Christians Ephesian 2:8-9
- Not only does the Bible teach this, but it also teaches us that when we believe in Jesus, we become new people, new beings.
- Because of this different things start to become more of a priority.

For Me:

- Part of my testimony
- The great thing is I still get to play and it is fun, but it doesn’t consume my life anymore.
- So it is not really a wonder why, if you’re a Christian that priorities have changed in your life, it is a mark that your growing in your faith.

Pray

Announcements: Bible Study, Winter Retreat, Ready Set Rake. Phil Wickham $12 by 12-3!!!

11-12-08 Jr. High-Proverbs pt 2 Sin

11-12-08
Proverbs Study Pt 2 – Sin


Who was most of Proverbs written by? And what was he known for?
- Solomon
- His Intelligence

Who is this book written to?
- 1:4 – Knowledge and Discretion to the Young
- 6:1 – My Son

What did we talk about Last Week?
- We need to gain Wisdom and Understanding!
- Wisdom – Is knowing the Lord
- But before you gain Wisdom you have to understand it
- Understanding – Applying it to your lives
- Last week, we had a challenge, don’t raise your hands, but I hope you continued in the challenge.

Good. Tonight we are going to be in Proverbs 6:16-19 And talking about sin.

Why do you guys think it is important to talk about sin?
- So we are constantly reminded of why Jesus went to the cross for us
- Gospel


Vs 16 – 7 things the Lord hates

- Do you think these are the only 7 things that God hates?
- No, there is more. He probably mentioned these bc they fit along with the whole book

!!!!THIS IS A WARNING TO ME AND YOU!!!!

Vs 17 –

Haughty Eyes
- Proud Eyes – Thinking your better than everyone
- Ever have someone look down on you and think they are better? Not a good feeling

Lying Tongue
- Lying – No Good
- Clip – Lying Granny
- How many of you guys have been lied to? You know how it feels, why would we do it to others?





Hands that Shed Innocent Blood
- Not too many of you guys have murdered anyone have you?
- Good – How about Hating?
- Jesus said that if we hate people it is like we have murdered them in our hearts
- Matthew 5:21-22
- We need to be careful!
- Hate is like acid. It can damage the vessel in which it is stored as well as destroy the object on which it is poured.

Vs 18

Heart devises wicked schemes
- Do you desire to see people get hurt?
- Have you ever really wanted to get revenge on someone, that you planned out everything you were going to do to get them back?
- This is what He is referring to here
- God hates it when people do this!!!

Feet that are quick to rush into evil
- You might think your good in this department
- You don’t rush into to do evil to people, your not the one who starts doing evil things
- How about....Following people who might not being doing what is the right thing to do
- Do You follow them, do you rush do evil bc you want to be cool like everyone else?
- The Opposite is this:: Psalms 119:101

Vs 19

Liar – (In Court, context)
- When you are asked what happened tell people
- The Bible actually says that if two people were going to court and the witness was going to lie about what he saw to get revenge, the witness should have done to him, what he was planning on doing to other person.
- Proverbs 19:9

Stirs up Dissension – Arguments amongst people who are meant to get along
- Who are people that should get along? –Christians
- Do you do that with other people or Christians?
- Do you lie to someone, spread rumors in order for people to fight
- With your brother or Sister?
- Proverbs 10:12

I know this was a lot to sit through. But like I said we should be able to talk about sin bc it is a constant reminder as to why Jesus went to the cross.

Challenge: Go over this list and honestly evaluate your lives against it.

Announcements: Next Week $$ Due!!! Ready Set Rake!!! Calendars!! Phil Wickham $12 by Dec 3rd

Sr. High - Misconceptions about Jesus Pt 1 - Leave Me Alone!

Misconception #1 – Leave Me Alone!!
11-5-08


Misconception - A mistaken thought, idea, or notion; a misunderstanding

So we have these all of the time in all areas of our lives.
- Younger – Teachers lived in the school
- When we speak with other people, sometimes our intended words do not make it to the other person the way we want them to.
- Illustration: As a woman placed her order in the takeout chicken shop, a look of consternation swept across the clerk's face, and a shocked buzz rustled through the line of customers. “What?” the clerk cried. “You want to know how much chicken you need to serve 300 people.” The women waved her arms and shouted “NO, NO 3 hungry people!”
- The one’s that are the hardest to get past are ones you hear about other people or maybe even about you.

As I said misconceptions, or misunderstandings happen all of the time. If it is a misconception, it always false or wrong!! This is why when we hear or see something we believe to be true we have to check up on it.

We should always desire to be seeking Truth and what is true. It only makes sense that we do. If not we are following a lie in every aspect of our life.

Tonight we are starting our series on some misconceptions people have about Jesus and Christianity. The title of tonight’s message is Leave Me Alone!

Disclaimer:
The Videos are meant to be funny, so you can laugh at them.
I don’t know who made this video’s, so don’t get mad just realize they are for fun and we are using them as a teaching tool.

****Play Video****


So it was a funny video, we have some more to watch in the upcoming weeks but tonight we are focusing on this one, Leave Me Alone!

- You all know why I titled my message as this
- There are a couple of things to point out:
1. The disciples (people Jesus hung out with) are portrayed as kind of dumb
2. The voice of Jesus says 3 very telling things
a. he wants to be left alone
b. he is important and is bothered by everyone’s problems
c. he is the disciple’s friend but he doesn’t have time for them


Let’s jump right in!!!



Misconception #1 – Jesus wants to be left alone

- People sometimes think that Jesus is perfectly happy wherever He is by Himself, however this is not true!

Proof:
1. He created us to have relationships with others
- Adam and Eve
- Genesis 2:18 – Not good to be alone
- Genesis 2:21-25
- We all need human contact at every point in our lives
- Illustration: Emperor Frederick, who ruled the Roman Empire in the thirteenth century, wanted to know what man’s original language was: Hebrew, Greek, or Latin. He decided to isolate a few infants from the sound of the human voice. He reasoned that they would eventually speak the natural tongue of man. When nurses who were sworn to absolute silence were obtained, and though it was difficult for them, they abided by the rule. The infants never heard a word—not a sound from a human voice. Within several months they were all dead.
- How many times in your life can you think of a time when someone helped you do or get through something? A lot !!

2. The Trinity
- Father, Son and Holy Spirit
- Are all separate yet one at the same time (Hard and confusing to understand)
- It shows us though that He is never alone anyway
- Right now, the Bible teaches us that Jesus is LIVING, in Heaven: Luke 22:69
- Constantly throughout the Bible, we see Jesus referring to Himself as the Son. He is always in relationship with His Father through the Holy Spirit!!!

Misconception #2 – Jesus is too important and too busy to be bothered with people’s problems.

- Sometimes people think that Jesus is too good for them and that He doesn’t want to be bothered, or we are somehow intruding on Him
- Jesus’ time here on Earth will shed some light on that issue....

Proof:
1. Jesus was always with people, helping them
- Constantly throughout scripture we see Jesus helping people
- Sick
- Dead
- Demon Possessed
- Forgiving Sins
- Teaching
- Arguments
- Parties
- Matthew 5-7, Matt 9:1-8, Mark 3:1-5, Luke 18, John 9

2. It would be contrary to His nature to be bothered by people wanting His help
- He even says Himself in Matthew 11:28-30....
- Not like when you tell someone that you would love to help them, but in reality your kicking yourself bc you voluntarily said you would help someone.
- Jesus is always there for us, even when things are good, even when things are bad
- Bible actually says that even though we are sinful, He still loves us and died for us.


My Question for you tonight: Do you know and believe that Jesus is there for you?

1. Have you put your faith in Him?
2. What is your spiritual life like?
a. This is how we grow in the Lord
b. Walking with Him!
c. When we grow closer in our relationships with Him, we realize that He is always there, even in the good and bad times, the times when we don’t bother with Him.

Jr. High Proverbs Study - Wisdom

11-5-08
Proverbs pt 1


What Are Proverbs?

- a short popular saying, usually of unknown and ancient origin, that expresses effectively some commonplace truth or useful thought
- Examples::
- Blood is thicker than water
- Curiosity killed the cat
- Chinese: It is easy to dodge a spear that comes in front of you but hard to keep harms away from an arrow shot from behind.
- Russian: After a storm (comes) fair weather, after sorrow (comes) joy

There are proverbs that come from all over the world, and they all say something about the lives we live as humans.

What good would a proverb be if it didn’t talk about things pertaining to us and our lives?

- IT WOULD NOT BE GOOD AT ALL!!


We are going to b focusing on the Proverbs of the Bible and what they really say to our lives

Background

- Solomon main author of the Proverbs
- Bible says he was the wisest man that ever lived
- And having so much wisdom, he used it to write down what he noticed about life


Why Study the Proverbs?

- Read 1:1-7

VS 2 – Wisdom and Discipline

Wisdom – What is it?
- Being smart
- Not just book smarts, but also understanding the world around you
- Understanding Who God is and what He want from your life

Discipline – What is the opposite?
- Training that corrects, molds, or perfects the mind
- VS 3 – A disciplined life

Vs 4 – Knowledge and Discretion to the Young

He is talking to you guys!!! Did you know that this book is talking right to you?
Discretion – What is it?
- Ability to make wise decisions


**This book is given to us to in order to make us wise for our life**

Let’s take a look at what this book says about Wisdom...........

1. Vs 7 – The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge

What is this saying?
- Understanding who God is the way to start being Wise
- We all want to be wise and smart so let’s keep on looking

Wisdom is constantly referred to as a woman, just how it is here. Kind of like people call their cars girls, kind of the same thing

Remember how I told you this book was for you guys? Listen to what Solomon says here:

2. Chapter 2:1-6

a. My Son
- He is giving this message to his son, me and you
- Gives us instruction as to what we are to do with Wisdom

b. Turn ear to wisdom and apply heart to understanding
- Literally tuning your ear into wisdom
- How Do We Do That?
- We will see later on

- Applying heart to understanding
- Really wanting to understand Wisdom
- You can’t learn something if you do not understand it

SHOW CLIP!!!!

- He continues to say what will happen if you really want understanding
- VS 3-5
- We should always want to have understanding
- **My class I am taking, sometimes I think I don’t really need this stuff, but I need to see what is true and what isn’t, I need understanding!!””
- Same is true for you guys!!

- He says that when we really want understanding, we are going to start fearing the Lord. Why would this be the case??

- Our understanding should be in things related to God and what He wants for us.

How do we get to be Wise?

- VS 6 – Understanding what the Lord Says
- Where? BIBLE!!!!

Challenge:
- Try to read the Bible for at least 5 mins a day this week. See what it does for you.
- Not just skimming but really reading it and wanting to Understand it!! Ask Questions

Wednesday 10-29-08: Song Night

Jr. High
Relient-K
"There was a time in my life"


Sr. High
Jon Foreman
"Instead of a Show"

Noah Part 4: Noah and His Questions

1. How old was Noah when he built the ark?

- About 500


2. Where did he get all of the wood?

- Probable that there was plenty of wood around him at the time and more than likely used that in order to build the ark


3. Did anyone help him?

- Yes, His family and he probably had people from the community to help him. He was a righteous man and walked with God, so it is probably safe to assume that some people liked him and would help


4. Why were there 3 decks?

- 1 deck people to live on, 2nd deck animals to live on and 3rd deck the poop to go on and out of the ark


5. Did bugs go on the ark too?

- Yes, Genesis 6:20


6. Did Noah have a wife?

- Yes, Genesis 7:13


7. Did everyone in Noah’s time live as long as him?

- Noah lived to be about 950 or so.
- Everyone in Noah’s time lived around the same as He did.
- Gen 5:31 – Lamech
- Gen 5:25-26 – Methuselah – 969 yrs


8. How many animals were there?

- Every kind that you see today


9. How high was the water?

- Gen 7:19-20
- About 20 ft over the mountains.
- Mt Ararat, where they landed, present day Turkey
- About 17,000 ft high


10. How many people were on the ark?

- 8 people
- Noah – wife
- Shem, Ham and Japheth – Wives


11. How did they cook on the ark?

- Possible they could have dried out all of their meat before hand (100 yrs) and it is not likely that they used fire on the boat, so they probably did a lot of preparation


12. Why didn’t people just float on something when the rain came?

- They probably did, but the flood lasted 150 days. Without fresh water, you can’t live longer than a week
- Under normal circumstances you can’t live longer than 4-6 weeks without food
- People would die eventually


13. What did Noah do with the ark after the rain?

- Gen 8:20 – Used the wood for making things!!

Noah pt 3 - Waiting on the Lord

Genesis 8

We answered questions in YG and came together to see what they meant for our lives.

Noah was on the Ark for about 1 year and 10 days. How would you feel if you were stuck in your house for that long?



What specific events kept Noah, his family and the animals on the Ark?




How does Psalm 5:3, Psalm 27:14 and 2 Peter 3:8-9, say about waiting on the Lord? How would you apply those verses to your life?

Your Bible - 10-12-08

Insert – “Your Bible”, Very Important Doctrine!!

God has revealed Himself in two ways
1. General Revelation – Earth, Creation
2. Special Revelation – His Word!!

This is what we will be focusing on today, God’s Word. This is an important doctrine and if we understand it correctly, then this should help to shape the way our lives are lived.

So the Bible....
- Not in the Bible, haha
- Bible = From Phoenecia to Greek to Latin English
- Basically – So Holy Bible = Holy Book

Bible Facts
- 66 books
- 39 OT
- 27 NT
- Written in 3 languages, Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek
- Written over the span of about 1500-1600 years or so
- About 40 different authors
a. People disagree on the authors on some of the books
- They were kings, herdsmen, soldiers, fisherman, poets, statesmen, scholars, priests and prophets.
- All of this accomplished with zero contradictions
- And is the number 1 best selling book of all time!! Praise God for that
a. Voltaire, philosopher, enlightenment writer, (1694-1778) “Within a century, the Bible will be extinct”
b. Good Commentary on people’s feelings about the Bible today
c. People think about the Bible as something to straighten out their coffee table

However, we believe something different about the Bible.

1. What does the Bible say about itself?
A. Jesus used the OT to train, correct, rebuke, teach and defend Himself
- He also refers to the OT as scripture
- Scripture – Graphe = Holy Writings
- Matthew 22:29 Arguing with the Sadducees
- Interesting that He would attest the Scriptures with the power of God
- John 7:38 – Salvation
- So Jesus used the OT as His authority when training, correcting, rebuking, teaching and defending. And He used copies. He didn’t use the originals, rather copies. Make that straight in your mind now, we come back to it.
- Shows how our OT and how reliable it is that Jesus would quote form it

B. Peter uses Paul’s writings and others as a witness to Scripture – Holy Writings
- 2 Peter 3:15-16
- What does this tell us?
- Paul’s writings are hard to understand!!
- Shows that the authors knew, what they were writing. Helps us to see that as soon as these letters were written they were Scripture. It didn’t take a council to say they were scripture, but rather they automatically were.

C. The Scriptures are inspired by God
- 2 Timothy 3:16-17
- Because of the inspiration by God.
- I want to camp for a little while and fully take on what this passage means

All Scripture is inspired by God
- We already looked at what Scripture meant
- Same thing here, referring to Holy Writings
- Inspired – Theopneustos – Literally means God out-breathed the word to the human authors
- Not meaning that God’s word is inspiring – even though it is, Rather scripture is a divine product of what God has spoken out
- What did this look like?
a. Dictation? No
b. 1) We see authors’ different writing personalities, vocabularies, literary styles, and conscious desires imbedded in the Word’s of God
c. 2) 2 Peter 1:20-21
d. God moved men to write what He wanted.

That is why we (Pastor Jay, elders, doctrinal statement of the church, myself) believe in the Verbal Plenary Inspiration of the scriptures.
- Basically what that big title means, we believe that every word in our Bible is inspired by God, Inerrant – No mistakes and has all authority for our lives.
- John 11:35 – “Jesus Wept”
- Shortest Verse, yet it tells a lot!!
i. Emotion
ii. Human
iii. Incarnation

- Helps to show every word is inspired b/c why else would this be added?
- We ascribe this to the originals, the very letters and books that the human authors wrote.

Profitable for teaching, reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness so that the man of God may be adequately equipped for every good work.

Teaching – If we are not teaching from the Bible, than we are wrong
Reproof – Not only showing sinfulness, but to show discipline
Correction – Show is someone is in error
Training in righteousness – Training in our lives, our lives are a race and we need to train for one

2. How can we be sure that the Bible we have today is God’s Word? Or Accurate?

A. Copies of Manuscripts
- Where we got our Bible from
- Common misconception is that the Bible started off in one language and played the telephone game. NOT True
- Copies were always made from the original language.
- Refer to Chart


****For Chart shown in Church go to:

http://www.carm.org/questions/rewritten.htm


- We can trust what we have is accurate





B. Personal Experience
Hebrews 4:12-13
- Most of you sitting here can attest to awesome power that Scripture has in your life. Maybe in Salvation story
Maybe in Overcoming a sin
Maybe in Sharing Christ with someone
- Scripture changing me
- Others can’t tell you, that this has hasn’t happened in your life!

C. Prophecy
- This is something that helped me to see that Jesus was real and believe what He said not only about Himself but about us as fallen sinners

a. Isaiah 7:14 – Virgin Birth and His name will be Immanuel
- Fulfilled in Matthew 1:18-25.
- Born of a Virgin and “God with us” – God Incarnate


b. Micah 5:2 – Born in Bethlehem
- Fulfilled in Matt 2:1


c. Psalm 16:10 – Would rise from the dead
- Fulfilled in Christ’s Resurrection
- Referred to by Peter in Acts 2:31

- Jesus Fulfilled more than 300 prophecies in His lifetime
- Consider This
- The odds of fulfilling 8 prophecies by one man, would be liken to these odds
- Build a fence around Texas
- Fill it 2ft deep with silver dollars
- Paint 1 red
- Mix em up
- Starting anywhere, blindfolded, stop anywhere and pick up the coin and have that be the red one.
- Jesus did not fulfill Prophecy by ACCIDENT

So What? I’ve given you a bunch of information and so what do we do with it?

Non-Christian
- Seek out this Jesus we have been talking about
- He is real and He wants to be in a relationship with you
- I just proved how the Bible, which attests to Jesus is real, Search Him out!!
- The Bible tells us that when we believe that Jesus died on the cross for our sin, He took that death for us, He was our substitution. And He was raised three days later
- Bible says believe that Jesus did that for you and you are saved

Christian
- Realize what the Bible is saying about our lives
- Struggling with sin, the Bible says take drastic measures to get it out of your life
- Know that the Bible has authority in our lives and let it have that authority, not because it is a book that the church likes to talk about, but Because it is God’s WORD
- “Within the covers of one single book, the Bible, are all the answers to all the problems that face us today--if only we would read and believe.” – Ronald Regan



Resources:

Who Made God?
By Ravi Zacharias and Norman Geisler


Basic Theology
By Charles Ryrie


Ryrie Study Bible
By Charles Ryrie


One Heartbeat Away
By Mark Cahill


Carm.org

Thanks!
God Bless
Steve

Instruction and Obedience: Noah pt 2

Topic Tonight
Instruction and Persecution


Vs 14-21 – Instruction
- Some people try and argue all about things about Noah and what was real and what wasn’t. I want to suppose that that is not the most important parts of the story. I think the parts we are talking about are the most important.
- Make an Ark
- God gives Noah instruction on what to build and what He wants it to be made like
- Specific instructions as to how it is to be built – (vs 14-16) **Instruction Manuel**
- Why?
- What is the purpose? **Not to have the coolest boat around**
- Because God always knows the outcome – He gave Noah instruction
- He did it for protection
- Love

Where and Why is instruction good in our lives
- School – To Learn
- Parents – How to function in society
- Job – Work and make money
- Spiritual Live – Please Jesus and grow

Same for us today
- He gives us instruction for us to follow – Psalm 119:105 – Your word is lamp to my feet and a light to my path
- Where does our instruction come from?
- Why is this instruction good?
- Because He wants to protect us - -
a. Psalm 37:28, “For the LORD loves the just and will not forsake his faithful ones. They will be protected forever, but the offspring of the wicked will be cut off”
b. John 17:15 - My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.
**Protected many times while driving**

- He Loves us - -
a. John 16:27 – No, the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.
b. John 3:16 – For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life

So Out of this we have 7 verses on instruction, and 1 verse, (vs 22) of Noah’s obedience.

Vs 22 – Obedience/Persecution

The Bible says that Noah was obedient to follow what the Lord had told Him to do

Why Did He Do It?
- Vs 9 – He walked with God
- He understood who God was and followed Him
- Even in a time of wickedness and evil
- Even when made fun of

You have the same opportunity everyday
- You can choose to follow God everyday
- Daily Choices
1. Make fun
2. Gossip
3. Party
4. Hook Up
- In your decisions that you make to honor God and walk with Him or not

How can we do this?
- 1. coming to know Who Jesus is and what He did for you
- Hebrews 11:6 – Without faith it is impossible to please Him
- We place our faith in Jesus, that He died on the cross for our sin and rose 3 days later to conquer death and live.
- 2. OBEY!!

Wish I could Say Happily Ever After!!
Unfortunately there will come a price
- Noah, faced persecution no doubt (1 Peter 3:18-20)
- Idea of Ark in the middle of the earth, weird??
- Us, people might make fun of us.
- 2 Timothy 3:12 – All who desire to live godly lives in Christ will be persecuted
- Most people won’t tell you guys this, but I want to. Not to discourage you but rather to encourage you, that the things of this world are nothing compared to the joy of knowing Jesus
- My best times were serving Jesus
- He even says come and taste! Will you???

Youth Group Message. Noah and the Flood pt 1

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Noah and His Flood (Part 1) – Wickedness and Sin

Genesis 6:5-12

We’re going to be starting a series on Noah

- Write down questions you have/anonymous/answered on the 22^nd at Harvey Cedars

A lot of people have different thoughts about this....

Background

What are some common misconceptions about Noah and the flood?

1. It’s a children’s fairytale

2. No way it could have happened

3. It’s a made up story

4. Hollywood Fictionalized (Show Film)

Other Cultures have stories about a flood happening too?

- Many other cultures around the world wrote that the earth actually flooded!

- They all have different interpretations as to what and why, but that is bc they didn’t know the One and True God

As Christians we believe this actually happened because

- We believe that what Bible says is truth, and unless otherwise mentioned, we take stories like this literally. That they actually happened

- Jesus and Peter both referred to Noah and everything that happened as really taking place

So let’s see what the Bible says about the flood.

(Genesis 6:5-12)

Why did the Flood happen? (5-7)

- Because the earth was evil.

- The Bible says that God was actually grieved that He had made man

- He was angry at the choices and the things that man was doing

- EX – Like When We Choose to Disobey Our Parents

How Did the Earth get this Bad? – A Look into Genesis

- God created everything and said that it was good

- Earth, Light, Darkness, Plants, Animals, Fish and People! – All of Which Were Good!!

- However sin entered the Human Race when, Adam and Eve disobeyed God and ate from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.

- And it continues with us today, when we sin. Even though it is hard not to

Why Didn’t God start over from there?

- He loves us and ultimately has a plan for everyone

- We learned about this a couple weeks ago

- What is His plan for us?????

(Again) Why did the Flood happen? (5-7)

- God was grieved because of the evil that the people were doing

Do you think our world is like that today?

- If you ever turn on the news or look at the news paper, what’s in it?

- Stories of murder’s, rapes, gangs, violence and hatred

- I think this is exactly like our world today.

- We live in a period of time where people are angrier, stressed, hateful than any time before!

- And even though the world we live in is crazy, we need to understand Noah’s story to help us in our lives

What made God not kill all of Humanity?

- Vs 8 – Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord

- Vs 9 – Noah walked with God, was blameless and righteous

- What does that look like?

- Back than they didn’t instruction (Bible)

- They knew who God was but willingly disobeyed

- Noah had Faith in Him and did things bc he knew they were what God wanted

So what do we take away from this?

- Understand sin in our lives

- This is the reason why God condemned the earth

1. Sin is nothing to be taken as a joke
1. God Hates It - Proverbs 6:16-19
2. Sin deserves Death – Romans 6:23

2. What do we do about it?
1. Call it out in our lives – 1 John 1:9
2. Move away from it – Matthew 5:27-30 - - Drastic Measures!!
3. Prayer – Matthew 6:13

Take an example from Noah

1. Walk with God
1. Understanding who God is – John 3:16
2. Follow His way – Matthew 22:37-39

Calendar

Youth Group Notes - 9/24/08

Jr. High Lesson:

"The Who, What, Where, When, How of Prayer!"

Why Do We Pray?

1.It's Communication with God

- It's important, everyday relationships need communication so why would this be different?

2. Telling Him what you Need

- Not what you need

When do we pray?

1 Thessalonians 5:17 "Pray without ceasing"

All the time!!

How/What do you pray for?

- Bulls-eye

1. God (Worship)

2. You (Needs)

3. Others

Who do you pray to?

- God the Father

- Matthew 6:9

Where do we pray?

- Anywhere!!

- Not even heads down!

Sr. High Lesson:

Matthew 6:5-13 "The Disciples Prayer"

Vs 5-6- Our Motives

- Jesus referring to Pharisees who performed their prayers like the account in vs 5-6. Jesus is saying that that our motive should not be to please men! It should be to please God!

- This is not really referring to where we should be praying, b/c we can pray wherever we want. Rather He is referring to again our motives of prayer. Are you trying to please others or God?

Vs 7-8 - Pray Purposefully

- Here Jesus is saying that our prayer should not be ones that are full of misguided words or just ramblings because sometimes people think that adding a lot of words to prayer is a good thing, Jesus is saying the opposite here.

- It's kind of like when you are talking to your best friend, most of the time you get right to point. Same thing here, we need to get to the point of our prayers

Vs 9 - Worship

- We should start off our prayers by addressing God the Father. If we believe/place our faith in the fact that Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins and rose 3 days later, than the Bible tells us that we are forgiven of those sins. But more importantly the wages of death are removed, we do not have die and be separated from God for Eternity. Because of this when we are praying we are addressing our Father God through Jesus Christ.

- We are worshiping Him by giving Him the proper respect and love that He deserves. So this might look like something, "Father thank you for_______" "Father you are so________" You can fill in the blanks for what God has done in your life.

Vs 10 - Come Back Jesus and Do What You Want!

- Here we have want for Jesus to come back to this Earth. When Jesus left this earth He promised us that He is going to come back and get His followers, Christians. We can believe that this will happen because He promised it and Jesus doesn't lie!! So we should be telling Him to come back and get us!

- Another thing that we should want is for Jesus to do His will on Earth and as things He does in Heaven. So basically we are saying that we want this earth to be run by Jesus which will happen when He comes back!! So these two kind of play off of each other

Vs 11 - Give Me what I Need!!

- "Give us this day our daily bread" We have all heard this line before, but now it is in reference to our prayers. We are to be in prayer and asking God for our needs. This would include...

Food

Shelter

Clothes

Relationships

and God's Word

- All of these things are essential for our daily needs. God's Word probably being the most important but most often the one over looked!

Vs 12 - Confession/Forgiveness

- Confession of our sin is one of the most important things we can do in prayer. Why? because it restores our relationship with God!! 1 John 1:9, says that if we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us. So this is something that constantly needs to be embedded in our prayers

- He also talks about us forgiving other people. Our goal as Christians should be to love others and by doing that that means forgiving those people who have hurt us. I am not saying that we need to trust them as must as we did, but we still need to forgive them.

Vs 13 - Deliver Me!!

- We need to ask God for Him to deliver or save us from the trials and tribulations that we go through in our lives. Because in all honesty, a lot of times we do not know where they might come from. God does indeed allow trials in our lives to happen. But somethings might also be a direct result of the sin we have in our lives. So when we are praying for deliverance from these trials, we asking for God to help us through these things He may have put in our lives. James 1:3 "because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance." We should want perseverance.

God Bless and Happy Prayers!!