Read the Bible Yo

 Let's start with a little game. Below are 10 statements. As you read each one, write down whether you think its a true biblical teaching or false teaching. You don't have to explain why you think its true or false, just determine which it is.

Things the Bible Teaches...??

1. Most people are basically good.

2. God accepts the worship of all religions.

3. The OT Law (Law of Moses) condemns children to death for cursing their parents.

4. Jesus was the first and greatest being created by God the Father.

5. Sin entered the world when Eve ate an apple from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

6. All people are created in the image of God and He loves them as His children.

7. Money is the root of all evil.

8. All you have to do to be saved is ask Jesus into your heart.

9. God will never give you more than you can handle.

10. God helps those who helps themselves.

Did you figure out which ones are true and which are false? What if I told you that only ONE of those statements is a true biblical teaching, and its not the one you think it is. The answer key (with an explanation for each) is in the comment section if you're curious.

If you got a bunch of them wrong, don't feel too bad, the wording got a little tricky and I even tricked some of the leaders last night with those statements. If you somehow got them all right, or came close, I am willing to bet that you were able to figure it out based on one thing: you've read the Bible.

Answer me this: have you ever felt like you can't talk about God because you don't know enough? Or have you felt like you can't talk about God because someone may ask you a question that you don't know how to answer? Or because you just don't know what to say?

How do we fix this? How can we know more? Where can we find answers? How can we know what to say?

The answer is simple: by reading the Bible. If you take nothing else away from any of my messages, take this: READ THE BIBLE. Know what it says. Consume it like New England Clam Chowder from the Cheesecake Factory after a 5-day fast (there's a story there). Take it in like cool water after a long summer day in the hot sun. Get lost in the Word of God like when you get stuck scrolling through TikTok until 4 in the morning.

Read.

The.

Bible.

Why is it so important for Christian's to read and know the Bible? Some of you know that I've recently gotten really into TikTok (my wife tells me I'm obsessed). Over the last month I've been interacting with a lot of false teaching (FROM CHRISTIANS) that has come across my For You page. I never knew how bad it was out there, even just within Christian circles. People who have a very poor understanding of the Bible are teaching whatever they want and calling it biblical. Then, people who don't know the Bible very well are believing them! This is a problem. When we don't know the Bible very well, we are going to fall into a lot of false teaching.

In Psalm 1, David talks about the blessing that comes to those who meditate on God's Word every day - it leads us to righteousness and keeps us close to God. In 2 Timothy 3:16-17, Paul tells Timothy "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work."

This letter, naturally, comes after 1 Timothy 4:8, where Paul tells Timothy "For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come."

We can see benefits to physical training. It keeps our body in good shape, allowing us to have a higher quality of life and live longer. There is value to that. But Paul here is saying that training in godliness has MUCH GREATER VALUE, holding promise both for this life, and the life we will spend in eternity with God. And how do we train in godliness? By reading Scripture. By spending time in the Word of God. It is what trains us to live as God wants us to live, and to draw near to Him in all things.

When we invest our time in the Bible like we are commanded to do, our minds are changed, our behaviors change, our lives change, our words change, our understanding is changed, and we are better able to identify false teaching. These are amazing benefits for this life, and as we draw near to God, these hold benefits for eternity as well.

So read the Bible. Meditate on it. Think about it. Memorize it. Act on it. The more we read the Bible, the more we will know what to say when people ask us questions. The more we read the Bible, the more we will know and be able to identify false teachings. The more we read the Bible, the more we will talk to people about the Gospel and faith in Jesus. This is because it is "out of the overflow of the heart that the mouth speaks" (Luke 6:45). What we put into our hearts and minds is what is going to come out of it. So the more time we spend in the Word of God, the more the Word of God will come out in our daily lives.

If you want to grow in your faith, to grow closer to God, and to have everlasting benefits in both this life and the life to come: Read the Bible.

There's No Time

 This one is coming out a bit later than usual, but that's ok, because the important thing is that you are able to look back and see what we've talked about this year. Our group is still recovering from all the sickness we experienced over Christmas Break, and Omicron is just sweeping across America faster than the latest broom. lease stay safe out there yall. Also, get a sense of humor because I'm going to guess that you aren't laughing and that joke was literal gold.

So last week we looked at a simple passage (super well-known, too) within the context of a story I shared. So about 6 years ago I worked at a bio-analytical lab as a kind of hyped up stockboy (no, I didn't do any bio-analyzing). While there I met a guy we'll call Eddy, who was about the same age as me. I was one of a few Christians in the workplace, but only two of us spent much time talking about our faith. Well, Eddy was what the church might call a seeker. He would regularly ask questions about our faith and about the Bible, and we would talk to him about those questions. But, I never took the opportunity to unpack the Gospel. 1. He never directly asked about it, 2. I didn't want to be accused of imposing my faith on him and making future conversations awkward, and 3. I always assumed I would have an opportunity in the future. One Monday morning I came in to work and Eddy wasn't there. No one knew why, and honestly we didn't think much of it because people miss a day of work all the time (sickness, emergencies, etc.). It wasn't until a couple days later that we found out the sad truth - Eddy had been killed in a car accident over the weekend. Just like that, he was gone. He knew a little bit about the Bible from our conversations, and he knew a little bit about God, but I don't think he ever heard the Gospel message about Jesus.

At the end of the Gospel of Matthew Jesus says this to His disciples: "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." (Matthew 28:18-20)

The will of God, for me and for you, is to go and make disciples. Breaking that down: we are to tell people about their need for a Savior and about Jesus, the Savior. Those who repent and believe we are to baptize into the church and teach them to obey what God commands in the Bible.

These are some simple bullet points for sharing the Gospel:

1. People are stuck in sin and are destined for death.

2. Jesus (who is God in the flesh) came and died for our sin so that we could be forgiven.

3. When we believe in Jesus, we repent (turn away from) of our sin and follow Him.

4. All those who confess with their mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in their heart that God raised Him from the dead will be saved.

5. Stuck in sin - sin earns death - Jesus died for sin - we believe in Him and are saved

I never gave Eddy a chance to believe and follow Jesus. Is it possible someone else told him about Jesus? Yes, it is possible. But I didn't follow the mission I've been given by Jesus - which is to make disciples.

The truth is, we have no idea what tomorrow holds. We don't know how much time we have left and we certainly don't know how much time our friends have left. SO LET US NOT WASTE OUR TIME.

I have two questions for you:

1. If you died tonight, do you know where you're going?

Take a long second to think about that. If you were to die tonight, do you truly believe that you're going to be with God forever?

2. If your friends died tonight, do you know where they're going?

I am willing to bet that all of you have some non-Christians friends or family. The Bible teaches us that those who do not believe in Jesus will be separated from God forever. So, what is keeping you from talking to them about Jesus? Is it fear that they will stop being your friend? Worry that it will be awkward? Uncertainty about what to say or how to start the conversation?

We can't let these things get in the way of talking to people about Jesus. He is their only hope, and God has placed YOU in their lives to share the Gospel with them. Our mission is urgent, because we just do not know how much time anyone has left. If you know that your friends or family are not believers, you have to at least give them a chance to believe. Below are just a few suggestions for ways to start the conversation or prepare for a conversation about faith in Jesus:

1. Ask what the other person believes. This gets a spiritual conversation going, and can very easily lead to you sharing what you believe. The bonus of this is you get to see their perspective and their response can show you how much they've thought about this kind of thing.

2. Ask "What do you think happens when we die?" Once again, it gets the conversation started with their perspective, opening up opportunities for you to respond with your perspective.

3. Ask them if there is anything you can pray for them for. This doesn't always go well, but most people are willing to accept prayer. This can also be a subtle way of letting them know that you have faith in a higher power, even they don't explicitly know Who you are praying to at first.

4. The blunt approach: Ask if they would be willing to hear about Jesus, or just jump right in to talking through the Gospel.

5. Share your testimony, your story of believing in Jesus. Try to keep it shorter than about 5 minutes if you can, and then as they ask questions (and hopefully they do) you can go deeper into certain areas. Always bring it back to salvation through faith in Jesus.

6. Ask if they would be willing to read the Bible with you. I've seen some people in our church do this with great success - people might be more willing than you give them credit. The cool thing about this approach is that you get to read the Bible alongside them, and they might ask questions that you had never even considered - leading to a pursuit of the truth and discovery of knowledge about God. This approach allows the Word of God to speak for itself.

7. Pray continually for opportunities to talk about Jesus (especially with specific people in mind), then look for those opportunities and DO NOT IGNORE THEM. When we pray about it, our eyes are more open to see opportunities as God brings them to us.

8. Look for different illustrations to use in explaining the Gospel (Romans Road, The Chasm, The Judge, CRU has some great illustrations to use). These can help you to know what to say or to better explain what you're trying to say in a conversation.

9. Bring someone with you. Making disciples is not a solo-mission. We don't have to do it by ourselves, and we're actually not even called to do it alone! The example set for us by Jesus was to go in pairs and work together. So find another Christian to go with you and work together in making disciples.

10. Read the Bible. The more we know about God and His Word, the easier it is to talk about Jesus with others. Start small, just share a verse you were reading recently and talk about how God impacted your life through that verse. It doesn't need to be an hour-long conversation for it to have a lasting impact on your friends and family.

I am praying for you all and my hope is that you will be steadfast in your faith and diligent in the mission we have all been given.

New Year, Same Questions

 Hey yall, so we just started the new year (2022 woot woot) and we had our first Summit of the year last night. As I expected, attendance was low. Omicron is running rampant through our area (my wife and I both had it through Christmas break and now the rest of my family has it) and I even advised yall that if you weren't feeling well you shouldn't come. This is okay. We missed you and we pray that God restores your health and well-being, if it be His will.

So, since we had such a small group, I decided to change up the message. Rather than sharing the message I had prepared (which was an awesome message I think and you'll get to hear it next week) I decided to engage in an interactive discussion. I opened it up to those who were there to ask the questions they had related to faith and the Bible. Of course, there were some jokes, we laughed, we had fun with it. Some of the questions asked were:

1. Are there aliens and would their existence debunk the Bible? We talked about this and concluded that it is totally within God's power to have created aliens. The Bible makes no mention of extra-terrestrial life, and we run into some theological problems if there is intelligent life out there. For example, that would mean they are stuck in a sin-filled and decaying universe because of Adam and Eve's sin, even though they have absolutely no connection to or knowledge of our planet. On top of this, part of what makes Jesus Christ's sacrifice on the cross work for us is that He was a man. If there are aliens, they would not be able to find salvation through Jesus Christ. All of this being said, I think it is entirely possible that there could be life out there in the universe, but I do not believe there is intelligent life. If I'm wrong, and there are intelligent aliens out there, that doesn't mean the Bible is wrong, it just means there are things we didn't know before and things that God did not reveal to us through the Bible. Don't let aliens shake your faith. =)

2. How tall was Jesus? Apparently, the average height of Jews 2,000 years ago was around 5'5". We don't know exactly what Jesus looked like, and its really not important, but He isn't described as being particularly taller or shorter than others, so He was probably between 5'3" and 5'7". Again, we don't know so don't let that shake your faith.

3. Are there animals in Heaven (and specifically pets)? This actually got asked a couple of months ago, but we talked through it again. The short answer is, we don't know. God doesn't take the time to lay out exactly how everything is going to be when we are with Him for eternity, so we can only speculate. In Revelation John describes the creation of a new heaven and a new earth. We think this will probably be a restored and perfected version of the original creation, and since that one included animals, it would make sense that there would be animals in the new earth. However, I agree with something Dr. Jason Lisle talked about, which is that it won't be the same animals that we have today. The reason for this is that the animals we see today are all part of the decaying world we live in (just like us). Since we, who are made in the image of God, will be resurrected with new glorified bodies, it would make sense that the animals in the new earth would be restored to a perfect state. To make that simpler, I believe there will be animals in the new earth, but I don't believe any of our pets will be there. Now, Dr. Lisle also shared that he believes it is within God's power to bring our pets to the new earth, so if you asked God to bring your pet back, He could do that. At the end of the day, we don't know, so as I have been saying - don't let this shake your faith.

4. The last question was one that I asked: what is the purpose of church? I was amazed and extremely encouraged to hear some of you recall what we had talked almost two years ago from Acts 2:42-47.

"42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved."

These were the practices of the early church. The main part of our discussion was about what would happen if a Christian became separated from the church. They would be more easily tempted away from their faith, they would be more easily discouraged and overwhelmed by the world, and they would find it much harder to keep following Jesus. Being a part of a local church allows us to have community with fellow believers, to learn more about our faith, the Bible, and God, and to be encouraged in our walk and in obedience to God. It is easier and more fulfilling to live the Christian life in community with other Christians than it is to try to go it alone. So, if you are reading this and you are not a part of a local church, please please please go and be a part of one. Our church is open to you.

The Road So Far

 Last night we took some much needed time to stop and reflect on what we have learned so far this year. Volleyball was the name of the game for the evening and I don't know about everyone else, but I had a really good time.

As we moved into the "message" time, I opened with a brief overview of everything we had covered up to this point. Below you will see a simple illustration (drawn by yours truly) of the foundation for all of our messages this year.

You would not believe how long it took me to produce that simple image... Anyway, the heart above represents your life. It represents you. Everything we are talking about this year centers around how to live the Christian life in a non-Christian world. The cross represents Jesus Christ being at the center of your life and the book represents the Word of God (the Bible) as your basis for truth. You see, if we want to live the Christian life, we first must be sure that we are of the faith and that we are in submission to the Bible as our authority in life. If you don't believe in Jesus, or you don't trust the Bible as a reliable source of truth, then you will fail to live out the Christian life in this world. Everything else that we have talked about or will talk about this year is founded on the understanding that Jesus is Lord and the Bible is our authority. That means we look to Jesus and we trust His Word to teach us what is right and good.

The Bible tells us about the nature of mankind - that we are created in the image of God but are separated from Him because of our sin, which condemns us to death. Every person is born with a sin nature and is destined for death. On our own, there is nothing we can do bridge the gap and get to God. When we understand this about mankind, it helps us to see that apart from God we are all doomed. We are not basically good, we are not evolving into better or more perfect beings, and we are not all going to Heaven (apart from God, none of us are). This has HUGE implications for living the Christian life, because it means that if we are not going into the world and telling people about Jesus (as we are supposed to do) then they won't ever have access to God.

The Bible also tells us about our role in the world, and specifically how we are to relate to non-believers. In His famous "Sermon on the Mount" in Matthew 5-7, Jesus tells His disciples that they are to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world. We broke that down to mean that we are to be blessings toward others (salt), doing good whenever and wherever we can. We are also to speak the truth whenever and wherever we can (light), shedding truth and light in an otherwise very dark world. Even if someone is in direct opposition to God and persecutes us as Christians, we are to speak the truth and demonstrate toward them the same kind of live and mercy that God showed us through Jesus Christ.

The Bible gives us a direct command when it comes to our relationship with our parents: "Honor your father and mother". We talked about the fact that "to honor" means "to obey". We are to obey our parents. And this is a serious command, as it sits right in the middle of the 10 Commandments. Its right up there alongside "Do not murder". And there is no caveat to this one either. There is no stated exception, like "obey them unless they are being quite unreasonable". We are to obey our parents, unless (yes, there is actually an exception) they tell us to do something that goes against the Bible. We obey God first, then parents. And if we do this, it will go a LONG way in helping us to have a good, healthy relationship with our parents.

The Bible completely obliterates any foundation for racism. In the beginning when God created Adam and Eve, He was starting the entirety of the human race from one set of parents. That means that all of us, no matter our skin tone, are able to trace our lineage back to the same common ancestors. We are ALL descendants of Adam and Eve, which means we are ALL one race - the human race. Therefore, skin tone should have absolutely no bearing on how we treat each other. No one is superior or better than anyone else, this is what the Bible teaches. We are equals in sin and separation from God, and those of us who have been saved are equals in the forgiveness and grace we have received in Jesus Christ.

The last two weeks we watched a YT video by Dr. Jason Lisle, in which he shared evidence from astronomy that supports the truth of the Bible. One of the benefits of seeing this evidence is that it encourages us in our faith, to know that what we believe to be true is supported by the world that God created. Knowing these evidences also helps us to have an answer for the hope that we have in Christ. When the people of the world come against us and accuse us of being crazy or stupid, we can show the rationality of our faith and stand our ground.

Most of our time last night was spent in a discussion, as I gave students the opportunity to voice any questions that had been raised but not answered in any of the previous messages. It started slow but it turned into a good discussion, and I am planning on having another one sometime in February of 2022. I hope you're able to be there and participate.

As we move forward this year, we will continue to tackle some of those big topics that the church is facing right now. We will discuss a biblical perspective on abortion, sexuality, social justice, and even politics. It is important for us, as Christians, to discuss these topics and come to a common understanding of how we should handle each of them from a biblical perspective. I fully expect there will be some hard conversations to come, but they will be necessary.

May the God of all peace be with you.

Astronomy and the Bible, Part 2

 HEYO! Last night we dove into the next section of Dr. Jason Lisle's talk on how astronomy reveals a 6,000 year-old Earth. You can look back at the "Part 1" post to see an overview of the discussion leading to this point, or you can jump on YouTube and watch the video for yourself! (If you are hesitant to click links, that's okay, you can go straight to YouTube and search for "Jason Lisle Astronomy Reveals 6,000 Year Old Earth" to find the video.)

In part 1 (from the start of the video to 22:34) Dr. Lisle covered two things: 1) How the study of astronomy has revealed the glory of God and 2) How the study of astronomy has revealed that the Bible has been 100% correct whenever it talks about the nature of the world and the stars. His main point in that was to show that even when the secular scientists of the day had it completely wrong, the Bible had it right - and what we have learned today confirms it. There is a huge implication for us in this: even in areas today where secular science claims the Bible has it wrong, we can trust that Bible has it right because its track record is undefeated. Science has been proven wrong in the past; the Bible has not.

This week we listened to Dr. Lisle's next two points: the age of the Earth and the uniqueness of the Earth itself in our universe.

In terms of age, he pointed to the existence of magnetic fields in all of the planets of our solar system. The analogy he used for this was to think of magnetic fields like batteries. They hold a charge, but as you use them the energy runs down until its gone. Based on the size of each of the planets, if the universe is truly billions of years old (like modern science believes), there should be no magnetic field left. It should have run out of energy billions of years ago. But our study of the planets shows that this is not the case. Each of the planets still has a relatively strong magnetic field, indicating that they are much younger than modern science believes. Dr. Lisle makes the point that the data supports the biblical account of the universe only being around 6,000 years old. He also points to the existence of blue stars, spiral galaxies, and the proximity of the moon, but you'll have to watch the video to hear those points. =)

As for the uniqueness of the Earth, according to the Bible the Earth is actually 3 days older than the rest of the universe. It was made on Day 1 of Creation whereas the rest of the cosmos was made on Day 4. Earth was specifically designed to support life while the rest of the planets and stars and galaxies were designed to light up our night sky and be viewed. The main point he makes in this section, however, is theological. He brings up the question that many of you might be asking: Is there life out in space? His basic answer is no, and his reasoning for saying no (at least for there being intelligent life) is that salvation wouldn't work for those "aliens". Jesus Christ was the perfect sacrifice for our sin not only because He lived a perfect life, but because He came to the Earth as a man. Being one of us allowed His sacrifice on the cross to cover our transgressions against God. When He was raised to life on the third day and came out of that tomb, He was raised in a new and glorious body, one which would not decay and could not die again. Based on this, if there were life out there they could not be saved. A counter-argument might be, "Well, maybe they never sinned so they don't need to be saved." But then we run into the issue of them being stuck in a universe corrupted by sin and death. If they never sinned, why are they stuck in a doomed universe with no way out? It just doesn't work. So, if we are approaching our study of the world and the cosmos from a biblical basis, then we should not expect to find intelligent life out in space. Could we find worlds suitable for us to live on? Maybe. But should we expect to find intelligent life already on those worlds? No.

His discussion is truly fascinating (at least for me) and really informative of a Creationist view of science. He offers some great arguments in support of a biblical view of the universe and pokes some holes in the arguments of what many of you get taught as fact in school. He points out a lot of the problems with an evolutionist, billions of years old universe belief system. The discoveries in astronomy don't support billions of years for the age of our universe - they support a 6,000 year old Earth. It amazes me how atheists can point at Christians and mock them for having faith in God when many of their own beliefs about the universe require so much more faith.

If you have any questions that came from the video or from my poor summary of Dr. Lisle's points, please ask them in the comments below and we can discuss. May God continue to bless you and your families.

Astronomy and the Bible, Part 1

 Hey yall. So last night, instead of a message from myself or another leader, we watched the first portion of a video by Dr. Jason Lisle - a Christian astronomer. You can watch the video on YouTube by clicking here, or by searching "Jason Lisle Astronomy". The video is an hour long, so we only watched the first 22 minutes, in which Dr. Lisle covered two things: the glory of God revealed in astronomy and the Bible's accuracy concerning the basics of astronomy.

The main point of the first section was to demonstrate the vastness and awesomeness of the universe, so far as we have been able to observe it. If you have the time to watch part of the video, he has some excellent illustrations that are just mind-blowing and magnificent. God's creation is truly wonderful.

The main point of the second section, on the "Basics", was to demonstrate how the Bible has been accurate when it comes to some of the basics of astronomy. Not only has it been accurate, but it was accurate way before the secular scientists caught up. Back when the secular world thought the world was flat, the Bible was already describing it as round (spherical). This means there were a lot of scientists back then that thought the Bible was wrong, only to be proven wrong later when science revealed "oh wait a minute, no, the Bible was right all along". This offers some encouragement to us Christians today as we deal with the scientific world making claims that go against what the Bible says is true and right. They've been wrong in the past, the Bible has not.

So, take some time to watch at least part of the video, and if you have extra time, go look into some of his other material. He has some great stuff to think about and look at as we find out more and more about our world and the universe.

If you have any questions or comments generated from the video, feel free to ask them below and we can discuss those together. God bless!

The Bible and "Race"

 Heyo! This is the second week of our look into a biblical perspective on some of the more pressing issues of our current culture. Last week we talked about our relationship with our parents (specifically focusing on what the Bible has to say about honoring and obeying our parents and how that plays into the relationship). This week we are looking at the topic of what our culture calls "race". We went through 11 different passages from the Bible, so bear with me as we read and unpack them together. This was a particularly interactive message time, and unfortunately I was not able to record all of the questions (or the corresponding answers) from the discussion last night.

Genesis 1:26-27 - “²⁶ Then God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’ ²⁷ So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.”

When God created all things, and in this case, mankind, He made them all "according to their own kind". Mankind is particularly unique as we see here, in that God decided to make mankind in His image. Mankind was given special authority and dominion over God's creation, which springs from this image of God we bear. This is where we come from as a people; this is our beginning.

Romans 5:12 - “¹² Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned…”

This is part of a larger argument Paul (the author of Romans) is making to the church that is in Rome. The point he is making in this passage is that sin and death entered the world through one man (Adam) and thus affected all people. This point alludes to the fact that we are all (yes, all) descended from that one man. If we could somehow trace our lineages back to the very beginning, we would all reach the same common ancestors: Adam and Eve. If this were not so, then how could Adam's sin be passed down to us?

Acts 17:26-27 - “²⁶ From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands.”

This supports Paul's statement in Romans, that we are all descended from common ancestors. From Adam and Eve came all the nations that exist today. God established each nation throughout history, including the United States of America, and He spread them out throughout the world, as we will see in the next passage.

Genesis 11:1-9 - “Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. ² As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there. ³ They said to each other, ‘Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.’ They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. ⁴ Then they said, ‘Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.’ ⁵ But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. ⁶ The Lord said, ‘If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. ⁷ Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.’ ⁸ So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. ⁹ That is why it was called Babel—because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world. From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth.”

This is where the major divisions of language and ethnicity started. Up until this point in the history of the world, people spoke the same common language (not English) and probably all shared a close skin tone. When God confused the languages (by the way, "Babel" means confusion) and scattered people "over the face of the whole earth", that is when ethnic diversity would have begun to develop - based on diet and climate.

Romans 2:9-11 - “⁹ There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; ¹⁰ but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. ¹¹ For God does not show favoritism.”

This is an important point to make note of, because some people want to claim that God favored the Israelites over other people. It is true that God chose the Israelites as His people, and He did that because He was going to use them to bring about His plan of redemption for mankind (His plan to save them from that sin and death Paul was talking about). When it comes to God's judgment, or His mercy, there is no partiality given. It doesn't matter where you were born, those who do good will reap the benefits of doing good and those who do evil will reap the consequences of doing evil.

The issue in the Roman church was that the Gentile (this just means those that weren't Jewish) Christians were arguing with the Jewish Christians, and Paul was trying to help them settle their differences by focusing them on Christ. It didn't matter if they were Jewish or not, they were all "in Christ" and that is what was supposed to bring them together.

Matthew 28:18-20 - “¹⁸ Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.’”

The fact that Jesus commands His disciples to go and make disciples of all nations tells us that His death paid the penalty for the sins of everyone, not just the Jews or any other particular ethnic group. People of every nation could find salvation through Him, which puts all people on an equal playing field.

John 13:34-35 - “³⁴ A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. ³⁵ By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Within the body of Christ, within the church, we are called to love one another. It doesn't matter what differences there are between us, we must love one another just as Christ loved us.

Leviticus 19:34 - “³⁴ The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God.”

Even though the Israelites (the Jews) were called to be holy nation (this means they were to be set apart from other nations, distinguished from them), they were still commanded by God to treat foreigners (non-Jews) with love. If it makes the point clearer, let me use the word "immigrant" instead of "foreigner". Though there may have been ethnic differences, that did not justify treating someone with anything less than love.

Romans 3:21-24 - “²¹ But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. ²² This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, ²³ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴ and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”

When it comes to sin, there truly is no difference between anyone. As human beings, we are all equally lost in sin, and equally incapable of earning salvation or attaining the glory of God on our own. We all fall short. In the same way, we are all equally (and freely) justified by God's grace through Jesus Christ. Not one of us is more deserving than another.

Colossians 3:5-11 - “⁵ Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. ⁶ Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. ⁷ You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. ⁸ But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. ⁹ Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices ¹⁰ and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. ¹¹ Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.”

This is Paul again, in a letter written to the church in Colossae. Here he is commanding them to put to death (to remove) anything in their lives that belongs to their earthly nature. If it was connected to the sin nature they had before coming to Christ, it needed to go. It is quite a list, right? I remember last night we talked a little bit about the filthy language part. I wonder what that means for you? At the the end of the quoted passage, Paul lists some of the things that would have, before Christ, separated or divided the people from each other. Jews would not have associated with Gentiles (Jews were circumcised, Gentiles were generally not). Barbarians were those people from what we now call Europe, and they were seriously looked down upon. Scythians were from the slavic areas, and also considered to be outsiders. Slaves were not usually permitted to associate with free peoples. So then, these are the dividing lines, and likely major ones in Colossae. In this passage, Paul is saying that in Christ, these dividing lines are no more. They are gone. They are removed. Rather than division, the church is to be completely unified in Christ.

Revelation 7:9-10 - “⁹ After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. ¹⁰ And they cried out in a loud voice:

‘Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.’”

And this is a look at where we are going. Revelation is a glimpse at what the end times will hold. In the vision, John (the author) sees this great multitude "from every nation, tribe, people and language" worshipping God together. The church of God has spanned over two millennia now, and has covered pretty much every corner of the world at one point or another. There have been Christians from countless nations, tribes, peoples and languages already, and there will be more Christians yet.

God created mankind as one race - the human race - and we are all made in His image. What our culture defines as "race" - the different ethnic groups and nationalities - were originally created by God to divide us. And in Christ He has removed those dividing lines so that we can once again be unified. This means that in a Christian, biblical worldview, the color of our skin has no bearing on how we should treat each other. Jesus commanded that those who love Him must love one another, no matter how our culture might try to identify and divide us.

The racial discrimination that we see today can, unfortunately, be justified from an evolutionary perspective. If we really evolved from a single cell organism and are continuing to evolve, then its possible that the different "races" of humanity are at different stages of the evolutionary process, which would mean that some races really are better than others. HOWEVER, from a biblical perspective, the racial discrimination that we see today CANNOT be justified. According to the Bible we are all human beings, made in the image of God, equally lost in sin and equally in need of a Savior.

So, for those who are in Christ, it doesn't matter what color your skin is, what language you speak, or what country you're from - we are all one in Christ. We are unified by our faith in Jesus. So stop focusing on the things that make use different and start focusing on the One who brings us together in unity. Let us love one another as Jesus has loved us. And as we look out into the world, let us demonstrate God's love to others, regardless of how they might look or act different from us.

If you have questions or comments, I would be happy to discuss them with you in the comment section below. God bless you all.

Gotta Face Reality

 I don't know why exactly, but I guess I've had games on my mind recently. As a kid I absolutely LOVED fighting games. I'd be playing "House" with my little sister and then 5 minutes in BOOM, a burglar breaks in and kidnaps her, and I have to go fight through hordes of minions to rescue her. I'd make up all kinds of stories where I was the hero, fighting against the forces of evil with my trusty sword. There was just one problem... I didn't have a sword. You want to know what I did have? A STICK! Booyah! I'd go out and find a decently-sized, straight-ish stick and that would become my sword, gun, axe, spear, staff - you name a weapon, that stick could be it - and I would use to to vanquish my enemies!

But what would happen if a real bad guy showed up? That stick wouldn't do me too much good - maybe I'd get a good whack in, if I was lucky, but then the bad guy would beat me to a pulp. As cool as it was to pretend that stick was a powerful sword, when faced with real danger I would have to face the reality that it was just a stick.

I think a lot of times we like to pretend that things are not what they are because it makes them cooler, or easier to deal with. We pretend sticks are swords because that is way cooler, or that a toothache will just go away on its own because that costs a LOT less money than getting it fixed by a dentist. We pretend that speed limits are more like guidelines than actual rules because it lets us get places faster. We pretend cheating on a test isn't really that bad because it saves us time on studying (or if we let someone cheat off of us, it makes us look better in their eyes). We even pretend that not reading the Bible regularly won't affect our faith.

Whatever the case may be, eventually we have to face reality. The stick breaks, the tooth decays, the cops pull us over for going 65 in a 25, we get caught cheating and get suspended from school, and we end up pulling away from God because we aren't paying attention to His Word. Two weeks ago we started answering the question "How do we live the Christian life in a non-Christian world?" Steps one and two were pretty straightforward: 1) be sure you are of the faith (otherwise why even try to live the Christian life?) and 2) acknowledge the authority of God's Word in your life. Last night we looked at step three, which is facing the reality of human nature.

There are a lot of ideas gaining traction in the world today: the idea of relative truth (that what is true for you may not be true for me, but they're both equally true), that the gender you're born with may not be your real gender (or that you get to choose your gender), the idea that who you are is tied to who you are attracted to, and possibly the most problematic idea, that mankind is basically good. The problem with this last one is that it takes away the idea that we are in trouble and in need of a savior. If mankind is basically good, then we don't really need God, or faith, or anything. We're good to go on our own. Unfortunately, this is not reality. Let's look back at the very beginning, when God first made mankind:

Genesis 1:26 - "Then God said, 'Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.' So God created mankind in His own image, in the image of God He created them; male and female He created them."

This was at the very beginning, before sin or death had entered the world. Everything was perfect and good, which means at our very beginning, we were perfect and good, made in God's image. This image, which meant that we were created with reflections of God's nature and character in us, set us apart from the rest of creation. God even said that as mankind is made in His image, it would allow them to rule over the rest of the creation. He gave us some of His authority and a responsibility over the earth. In making us in His image, God gave us the ability to make our own decisions (we call this free will) and He gave us souls - a spiritual aspect to our being that lives on after physical death. After finishing His work in creation, God looked at everything He had made and decided that it was all very good. So, at the beginning, the idea that mankind was basically good was correct. We were. Unfortunately, that's not the end of the story.

Romans 5:14, 17-21 - "Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who is a pattern of the one to come. … For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ! Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous. The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Human nature started out good, but when Adam and Eve sinned against God human nature became corrupted. That act of rebellion (which you can read about in Genesis 3) brought sin and death and decay into God's good creation, and it brought corruption into all of it. Every person is now born with a corrupted nature, so that we are not basically good anymore. At our core, apart from God, we are sinful and hopeless beings. We still have the image of God implanted in us, but it has become corrupted and twisted, so while we can still sometimes do some good in the world, sin is the prevailing part of our nature. This is why we see so much evil and suffering in the world today, because people give in to their sinful natures and choose to do what is wrong. The ultimate consequence for sin, the consequence that we each deserve and are destined for, is separation from God and death. That is the nature and the fate of humanity.

BUT, you may have noticed in the Romans passage, God did not see fit to leave us like this. Just as through that first sin Adam doomed us to death, so through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross we have access to God and to eternal life! When Jesus died, He took the penalty of death that we deserve, so that we wouldn't have to. He took our punishment so that we could be forgiven and have a restored relationship with God. Without faith in Jesus, we have no hope of redemption. We would be stuck in our sin nature and doomed to eternal death and separation from God. Through Jesus, we can have life, and have it abundantly.

Our society is pushing a lot of new ideas right now, most (all) of which go against what the Bible tells us about human nature. If we take steps one and two, believing in Jesus and accepting the authority of God's Word in our lives, then we should be prepared to take step three, which is to face the reality of human nature which is described in the Bible. This is a hard step to take in our culture right now, because doing so pits us against the ideas that the world is pushing. The world will yell at us, scream at us, maybe even attack us to get us to accept their ideas. But we must stand up and stand strong for what the Bible says to be true, no matter what kind of push back we get for it.

The world wants to pretend that mankind is not doomed to death. The world wants to pretend that people can be whatever they want to be, and do whatever they want to do. The world pretends all this because it is easier than facing the reality that there is judgment coming for those who rebel against God. Whether you believe and trust in God's Word or not, eventually you gotta face reality.

Friends Tell Friends EVERYTHING... Right?

 Heyo! I know a bunch of you are a little bummed that we brought masks back last night, but on the bright side, at least we still get to meet every week! With the way that schools have to handle covid exposure, we didn't want the Summit to be an unnecessary risk. So, I hope you can understand our reasoning and I hope to see yall next week!

Last night was our Parent's Night, so I know I was a bit scarce throughout the night. Since I was in with some of your parents, we pulled out a video from "The Skit Guys" on YouTube - before you read any further, go look up "Friends Tell Friends Everything by the Skit Guys" on YouTube and watch it. Don't worry, it is hilarious and completely worth your time. Seriously. Stop reading. Go watch. I'll wait.

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Well? What did you think?

To be honest, I've never been one of those people who tells anybody everything. I have always kept certain things to myself and not shared them with anybody, not even my closest friends. And I am sure we all have those things that we keep hidden or secret, either because we're ashamed of them or because we just don't want anyone to know everything about us.

But in the skit, the two guys had grown up together and their friendship mantra was centered on "friends tell friends everything". And yet, right at the end we find out that "Danny" had kept his faith a secret from "Stevie" the whole time. He had never had the courage to open up and talk to his friend about the biggest news of his life. And even at the end, as they are about to graduate high school, he still can't find the courage to do it.

I don't know what kind of relationship you have with your friends, whether its a "friends tell friends everything" kind of friendship or a much more shallow one. But if what we believe is true, that mankind is in need of a Savior and the ONLY way to be made right with God is through faith in Jesus Christ, then what are we really doing when we "chicken out" of sharing our faith with our friends?

Like, "Hey, I know how to live forever but I'm not going to tell you."

It's easy to make excuses (I've made them, too). "They're going to think I am some kind of religious nut." I was called a Bible Thumper by my best friend in elementary school when he found out I went to church. "They won't want to be friends with me anymore." "It would just be such an awkward conversation." "I don't know what to say." "What if they ask something and I don't know the answer?" "What if they laugh at me?"

But let me put this out there: What if they believe you? You have vital information that could forever change their lives for the better. Don't be afraid to share it! 2 Timothy 1:7 tells us "For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline." Additionally, Romans 8:14-15 says "For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, 'Abba, Father.'"

Every Christian has the Holy Spirit of God living inside of them. If you are a Christian, then you have the Holy Spirit of God living in you. When we give in to fear, or anxiety, it means we are relying on our own power to do something. But when we rely on the Spirit of God living inside of us, he empowers us to do what needs to be done - not by our own strength, but by his! So as you continue to hang out with your friends, look for ways to talk about what you believe. And don't worry about what to say, or how to say it - let God's Spirit handle that part. Just get the conversation started and see where it goes. Who knows, God may use you to bring your friends to faith in Jesus.

Foreigners in a Hostile World

 Heyo! For anyone who doesn't know already, I have played a LOT of games in my lifetime - from board games, to videogames, to sports games, all the way to mind games (messing with my siblings). You and I may not like the same kinds of games, but I think we can all agree that games are fun. I think part of what makes games fun is that they each have their own set of rules that the players have to abide by - these make the game the way that it is. For example, imagine trying to play dodgeball but no matter what happens no one can get out. It might be fun at first, until you realize that you're just throwing dodgeballs at each other until someone gets bored or whatever. That's not... a game. You know? A game needs to have certain rules so that it is fair, works properly, and allows everyone to have some fun and competition. The world we live in today is a lot like a game in that respect. There need to be rules to live by so that the world runs properly, people can live at peace with each other, and everyone can have opportunity to "pursue happiness", as the American dream would put it. However, when I look around, even at just this country, it seems like everyone is living by different rules. Either they mix and match rules from others or they make up new rules as they go along. No one truly agrees on any rules, so there is no peace, the world definitely doesn't run properly, and most people are too busy struggling to get by to even think about pursuing happiness. The "American Dream" doesn't work.

As Christians, we believe that God created the world (as outlined in the beginning of the book of Genesis) and He established the world order, set it in motion, and provided the rules for the "game" of life. He revealed all of this in the Bible so that we would know how we are supposed to live in this world He created. Unfortunately, if you read through the book of Genesis in the Bible, you'll quickly find out that it didn't take very long for mankind to break the rules and do their own thing. Ever since then, humanity has struggled with the consequences of rebelling against God's way of doing things, and that's what we see in our world today. Our society doesn't want to do things God's way, and they become very hostile toward those who do. So, the question is, how do we live the Christian life in a non-Christian world? How do we survive as foreigners in a hostile world?

In total, there are four parts to the answer to that question, and today we are going to look at the first two.

Step 1, the very first thing you need to do to even attempt to live the Christian life in a non-Christian world, is to be sure you are of the faith. Romans 10:9-10 says this: "If you declare with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved." There is NO POINT in trying to live the Christian life if you're not even a Christian. It won't do you any good and you'll fail over and over and over again. The good news is, becoming a Christian is not as complicated as some of you might believe. Just like Paul said in Romans 10, out your faith in Jesus and what He did for you on the cross. Let me give you a quick overview of what we're talking about here - according to the Bible, Jesus is the Son of God who came to the earth as a man about 2,000 years ago, lived a sinless, perfect life and then died on the cross as a sacrifice for our sins, taking all the punishment that we deserve so that we don't have to, and then was raised from the dead 3 days later. If you believe that and trust that your sins are forgiven through Jesus, you are a Christian.

Here's the thing though, according to Paul we must declare with our mouths "Jesus is Lord". A "lord" is someone with authority, a master or ruler. So when we declare "Jesus is Lord," we are declaring that Jesus is our master, our ruler, the main authority figure in our lives. If Jesus is our Lord, that means we submit to His authority, we follow and obey Him.

Step 2 naturally follows from this. Step 2 to living the Christian life in a non-Christian world is to acknowledge the authority of God's Word (the Bible) in your life. When you think of the Bible as God's letter to us, which comes with instructions for living and information about who He is and what He is doing, then it would make total sense for us to acknowledge the Bible as an authority in our lives. It would be just like receiving a letter from our lord. Where we get tripped up, however, is that a lot of the time we treat the Bible like the instructions for a game. Take UNO as an example. UNO has specific rules for each card and how to play the game. But depending on where you go, different people play the game differently. There are variations of the rules (stacking versus no stacking, drawing one card when you can't play anything or drawing until you can play, etc.). I think we tend to treat the Bible like the rules in UNO - the Bible gives us a baseline, but we can pick and choose which rules we actually want to follow. And this is why step 2 is so important to living the Christian life in a non-Christian world. The world tells us its okay to pick and choose, but the Bible is clear - its all or nothing. We either submit completely to God's way, or we are in rebellion against God. There is no in-between.

So then, to really acknowledge the Word of God as an authority in our lives, we have to surrender our authority of self. What do I mean by that? Well, before becoming a Christian, we all have different authorities over us - our parents, teachers, the government, etc. But over all of those we have the authority of self. This is our ability to choose who we are going to listen, if we listen to anyone at all. Like, yeah, I might get in trouble if I don't listen to my parents, but ultimately it is my decision whether to obey them or not. The authority of self boils down to this: "I do what I want." As a Christian, we surrender this authority of self over to God. In making Jesus our Lord, we say, "God, I am no longer in charge of my own life, You are. You make the decisions, You say what is right, and I will follow Your lead." It boils down to: "I do what God wants." If we try to live the Christian life, but don't surrender the authority of self, we are in for a lifetime of trouble.

Isaiah 45:9 says this: "Woe to those who quarrel with their Maker, those who are nothing but potsherds among the potsherds on the ground. Does the clay say to the potter, 'What are you making?' Does your work say, 'The potter has no hands'?" If the Bible is true, that means God made the world. He is the Maker, He is the "potter", and we are what He has created. If He is the Maker, what right do we have to challenge His design? What right do we have to disagree with He has said? When we acknowledge the authority of the Bible in our lives, we are saying that we trust that God knows what He is talking about. That means we don't get to decide what is right or wrong, we go by what He says is right or wrong.

If you are sitting there and you want to live the way God says is right and good, then the first things you need to do is ask yourself these two questions: Have you put your faith in Jesus? Have you surrendered yourself to the authority of God's Word? These two things set the foundation for everything else we believe in, and they give us solid ground upon which to stand for our faith. The world we live in despises God's way, and they will try to push down and destroy anyone who tries to live His way. Don't let them push you down.