God Questions


For the next several weeks, we are going to be taking a look at some of the most asked questions of Jesus and the Bible in one of our Sunday Morning Classes.  From controversial questions to "I was just wondering" questions we are going to try and tackle them all.  


If you have a question that you would like answered (or at least attempted to answer), please leave a comment below.  ANYONE is allowed to ask a question and you may remain anonymous in your question asking.  If you are not in the area and are wondering how your question would be answered, email Aaron at aearlywine@gmail.com.  


We will see how it goes!  Let the questions fly. 

Peat and Repeat. . .

A big thank you to Shaun and his message on Sunday, great job! Shaun warned that good things in life can turn us negatively toward apathy, negatively toward legalism, or positively toward consistency and genuine faith. From communion time, to the Sunday morning message we have a choice on how we are going to do those things we always do, either with faith and genuineness, or with apathy or legalism.

This can all be of course translated into our everyday lives. We are all vulnerable to a stagnate faith and relationship with Jesus. To prove it, I can admit that on occasion in all my relationships, I have had dry times. Consciously I have to focus on my relationship with my wife and children, with my friends and with my parents. None of those relationships just “happen”, they take effort.

Spend some time this next week taking a long look at your relationship with Jesus. Today we may be well connected with our Savior but remember back to those dry days and what it took to bring you out of that lull. If you are in dry times right now, take some time to work on your relationship and rekindle that flame. Spend a little extra time this week in prayer and your readings; take a walk in nature thanking God for His creation.

Running the Race Together

Yesterday we dove into 1 Corinthians 9:24-10:13. We looked at the importance of running the race and finishing strong. We talked about a few of the pitfalls that many of the Israelites fell into, from grumbling to sexual immorality, there are many ways that the enemy would like to use to disqualify you from the race.

Paul also went into the importance of strict training at the end of 1 Corinthians 9. I would like to challenge you in a few of ways training that we should be following as run this race together. First of all on a spritual level we need to be training our minds. We do that by:

1. Reading scripture. Make time every single day to read your Bible.
2. Memorize scripture. In your daily reading find a verse to meditate on and memorize. In the race when you are about to hit a wall, those scriputures will help to give you the energy and encouragement you need to keep going.

It is also important that you are training your heart:

1. Take time to pray. Ask God to mold your heart as you live for Him.
2. Take encouragement from other Christians. One of the most important parts of our Christian faith, is the love and support of one another. The sad truth is, we need more than just sunday morning encouragement. Join a small group, build relationships with those who will encourage you to finish strong.

The purpose for all of this training, is to always be ready to share your faith. You became a resident of heaven when you made Jesus your Lord and savior. Live like it, Run like it, and bring others along with you in this race!

Looking for Truth

2 John

Yesterday we dove deep into the idea of truth. I want to re-emphasize the idea of Jesus being truth. He is either "the" truth, or he is a liar. There is no in between and this is because of Jesus' own words. In the book of John chapter 11, Jesus says that he is the "way, the truth, and the life" and, "no one comes to the Father except through me." Jesus has to be either the way to God or not, there cannot be an in between.

Many Christians and non-Christians alike make the mistake of believing that Jesus and the Christian faith is just one way to heaven. Logic leads us, because of the words of Jesus, to conclude that either Jesus is the way, or not. If Jesus is not the only way, then there must be another way. The question than must be asked, What do we do about sin? Are you willing to chance that you will have another chance after death? If Jesus was not the way, then sin is still the issue. If everyone gets into heaven, what is the point of this world? These are just a few questions that need to be asked in regard to Jesus and truth. How would you answer these questions? How would you respond to someone who had these questions?

Sermon Series Preview

Heroes

Coming July 5th

It seems the last couple of years the theme of Heroes has been prevelant.  From TV shows to movies, the super hero has been making an amazing come back. The Gospel According to Superman was written in 1973 chronicaling the differences and similarities our man made heroes reflect the Gospel of Jesus.  What a fascination we have with these heroes.  Maybe we long to be the heroes ourselves.  Maybe we like to think we can relate to difficulties heroes have as they struggle to save the day.  Or maybe we just like a good story where the good guy wins.

Starting July 5th we are going to be looking at a few heroes found within our scriptures.  We will be looking at Abraham, David, Appollos, Barnabas, and more as we look at the true Hero, Jesus Christ and the impact he has made throughout ALL of history.  Join me and others at Sixth and Gibbs Church as we explore the Heroes of the Bible!

Understanding Freedom

Galatians 5:1-15

The more that I am gaining an undersanding of history and our government system, the more that I am appreciating the sacrafice that so many gave for the freedoms we have here in America.  Yesterday we looked at those verses in Galatians 5, "For freedom you have been set free."  

As we looked at yesterday freedom does not mean that you have a choice to do what ever you want.  Freedom is an attitude, it is a peace.  No one is free when they are controled by addictions, no one is free when they are controled by hate or anger.  No one is free when they are controled by pornography or lust.  Freedom is about gaining peace, it is about being content.  Freedom gives us the ability to make the right choices and decions for our lives.

The questions we need to be asking ourselves is: What are we doing with our freedom here in America?  Are you using your freedoms for the selfishness of yourself, or are you using your freedom to move the gospel forward?  

Challenge:  Thank God today for your freedom here.  Take inventory of your life, are you a slave to sin, or to attitudes that are against God, or are you truly free to be the man or woman God has created you to be.

Day 2

Yesterday was day 2 today is day 3 but I may never have time to fully update the blog for day 3 but hey we will do our best.

I am impressed with the over all quality of the conference this year.  Today seemed to have a strong missions emphasis and really got me to think outside of the box when it comes to missions and the purpose of missions within the local church and outside of the local church.

Rick Chromey had a very good class on incorporating video and powerpoint into presentations and such getting me to think about how to best do that as well.  I have also been challenge yesterday and today to make sure that my first focus is my family and that they are being placed number one in my ministry and home.

I am about to attend a workshop on adoption, the stories of adoption I have heard thus far have really pierced my soul and it will be interesting to see how God will use that in my life.  I am praying for you church and look forward to being with you again very soon.

aaron 

Day 1 Recap:

I sure don't have as much time as I had hoped to write these updates, between the conference and catching up with old friends my days seem incredibly short. Here are the classes I attended on Tuesday:

Leading in Uncertain Times. This class was great about leadership. I former business president, now a student at BBC talked about what it means to be in leadership. He spoke of foundations, how God is the foundation and we need to be cultivating that relationship and we are the foundation for others as leaders. People begin to reflect their leaders, so, how are you doing?

Then I went the class, Change Everything: Worship Services. Got a lot of great ideas from the worship leader at Tomoka Church in Florida. They had great video ideas and great service order ideas as well.

Then I went to see my sister for the evening and love on my neices. What a blast!

Then I went to the evening session. AWESOME worship last night, by the BBC group. I was very impressed by our main speaker Joe Putting, who challenged the pastors to not be Chaplins and just care the needs of the needy church people, but to focus on being like Jesus and reaching out to the down trodden.

I will add more detail when I have time and update everyone with the classes I have been attending.

My church family and friends:

I am in Boise, ID for the annual spring preaching conference at Boise Bible College.  Last night was a great tribute to Dr. Ken Beckman who has preached at BBC for 62years.  His final words were very powerful, speaking of shooting the wolves before they infultrate the flock.  I was impressed.

This morning we have challenged, to pray and act as our morning speaker compared the Lord's prayer to the great commission.  We all have a part to play.  Jesus is praying and fulfilling his end of the deal, how are we doinging with ours?  

I will plan on updating throughout my time here.  You can see the full schedule of events at http://www.boisebible.edu/Events/confernc.htm  if you have a suggestion as to a class you would like me to attend and update you on, let me know by emailing me at aearlywine@gmail.com.  all classes are recorded so I will be able to hear from all of them.  Got to get back.

aaron

Book Review:

The Unchurched Next Door

by Thom Rainer

I had an opportunity to pick up this book by Thom Rainer and it is a good one. Thom put together a team of researchers to find out from people if they would be open to attending church or hearing more about Jesus.  The researchers polled 306 non-believers in 50 states to see their openness to Christians.

Rainer was able to categorize those who were not Christians into 5 distinct categories, from those who are so receptive to the Gospel that all they needed was someone to ask them to follow Christ; to those who are so against Christ and the church that only an act of the Holy Spirit would change their conviction.  Understanding people's receptiveness to the Gospel changes the way that we speak to them, invite them to church and how we do both of those.

Rainer says that 80% of people polled would say "yes" to coming to church if they were invited by a friend or co-worker.  Though not all would be open to becoming a Christian many would give church a try if only invited.  Below is a chart Rainer put together in regard to how people would prefer to hear about church:

This book is definately a good read to get those evangelistic juices flowing and a book of hope as well to encourage us that people are receptive to the Gospel though it may not seem like it at times.  If you are interested in the read let me know and I will get you a copy.

aaron