Question of the Week 2/20-2/26

Ok...here it is...the next Sunday night question is...

When is it ok to lie?

Post your comments...and be honest! We'll talk about this on Sunday nights.

Remember, if there's something you want to talk about on Sunday nights, put it in the jar, either actual or virtual!

Bible Baseball Trivia

Wednesday Night Recap
February 22, 2006

Wow! What a night. And what a close game. The Jesus Freaks just pulled it out over the Holy Jean Team in sudden death 12-11.

If you want a recap of the questions and where I got them from, check out:

http://www.probe.org/content/view/56/#back1

Also if you want an actual, online version of Bible Baseball Trivia, where you can select whether you want to go for a single, double, triple, or home run, check out:

http://trivia.crossdaily.com

Hey. I know the game may have been a little discouraging for some of you...or most of you...as question after question was missed on the "single" level, but this is an opportunity to do two things with the results of last night's bible trivia game:

Number 1: You can say: "I'm mad at Ryan and Christie, the whole idea of knowing facts in the bible, and I'm never going back to H2O again...because Ryan really shouldn't have shown us how little we know last night. The questions were too hard anyway, and he was just trying to embarrass us."

or

Number 2: You can say: "Wow...there really are a lot of important things in the Bible that I don't know, and I need to know them. So I am going to take responsibility for myself, pick myself up, and start studying the word as important to my everyday life."

Remember 2 Timothy 2:15:

Study to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, handling accurately the word of truth.

THAT was the point of Bible Baseball Trivia night. We all need to study the Word of Truth diligently so that we have no reason to be ashamed of God or His word, and so that we can handle questions about the Bible and our faith with truthful, confident answers.

Here is a resource ya'll can check out. It will help you know what to read in the Bible each day so that you can get through the WHOLE THING in a YEAR! You can do it straight through, or in chronological order (the order that the stories happened in).

http://www.heartlight.org/devotionals/reading_plans/

If you choose not to use this, then I at least encourage you to start reading the stories in the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John), or in Genesis and Exodus, Numbers, the Chronicles the Samuels, and the Kings, and in Joshua, Jonah, Ruth, Esther, and other books.

Don't Neglect the Old Testament!!!

And START BRINGING YOUR BIBLES TO BIBLE STUDY!!!!!!!!!!!

We love you all incredibly alot and muchly and want God's best for you, and that starts with knowing His Word.

Separation of Church and State

Sunday Night Recap
2/19/2006

First of all, let me say "thank you" to all of you that have been inviting and bringing friends to Sunday nights recently. Keep it up, and remember to ask them what they thought, what they learned, and most importantly where they stand with Jesus. Make sure you check out the upcoming events on "The Wall" and invite people out so we can fill up the living room, and see more people surrender the the Kingdom of God!

Now, to Sunday night.

Separation of Church and State is a battle that believers love to fight. We love to debate having prayer and bible study in school and having the 10 Commandments in courtrooms and on public property. While I agree that the idea of Separation of Church and State seems to be leaning heavily toward the state slowly taking away the rights of the Christian church, I am concerned with a much more sinister form of Separation of Church and state...

That is the removal of God from certain areas of our life.

In the very same breath that Christians are fighting to put God's influence back or keep God in all areas of society, we are fighting to keep God's influence out of certain compartments of our life.

Haptoon's gives a good picture of this:

http://www21.brinkster.com/Haptoon/089.htm



So, what areas of your life have you decided to separtate "church from state"? What is the state of your walk.

Think about all the different "compartments" of your life.

• Who your Friends are-Are they making you more like Christ or less like Christ
• The Music You Listen To-Does it honor God and cause you to Praise Him or hinder your praise?
• What you watch/look at-Is it causing you to lust or even waste time that could better be spent?
• What your Hobbies Are-Does God approve of the way you spend your time?
• How You Treat Your Parents
• The Effort You Put Into Your School Work
• The Way You Treat the Traffic Laws
• What You put Into Your Body-Food, Drink and otherwise
• How you Use Your Talents
• Where you Spend Your Money-Are you honoring God with What He has Given You?
• Who You Choose to Date-Are they a Christian or are you sinning by dating a non-Christian?

There are HUNDREDS of compartments in our lives, and we so often exclude the influence of the church, God, the Bible, Jesus, and the conviction of the Holy Spirit from many of those compartments. Allow God to have control of those areas that you have been holding onto. Don't sit on the throne of your life anymore...make Jesus LORD over ALL!!!

Rom 5:20-6:7

Law came in, to increase the trespass; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more,
so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the sinful body might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin.
For he who has died is freed from sin.

GTKY Feb 14

What is Your Favorite Definition of Love?

The Face of Fear

Sunday Night Recap
February 12, 2006

Do you have any phobias? There are HUNDREDS of phobias that people have been diagnosed as having. Here are just a few: (For the rest, check out www.phobialist.com)

Ablutophobia-Fear of washing or bathing
Amathophobia-Fear of Dust
Asymmetriphobia-Fear of asymmetrical things
Coulrophobia-Fear of Clowns
Didaskaleinophobia-Fear of going to School
Dutchphobia-Fear of the Dutch
Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia-Fear of Long Words
Levophobia-Fear of things to the Left Side of the Body
Ophthalmophobia-Fear of Being Stared At
Papaphobia-Fear of the Pope
Phobophobia-Fear of Phobias
Pteronophobia-Fear of Being Tickled by Feathers
Zemmiphobia-Fear of the Great Mole Rat

Fear will grip you at some point in your life. How will you recognize it? How will you deal with it? Is fear sinful in and of itself?

Fear shows its ugly face in many different ways. At the end of the blog are listed some avenues that fear uses to affect our lives, along with scripture that tells us something important...there is no need to fear. Do you trust what the Bible says? Do you believe that God is who He says He is and that He will do what He says He will do? If so, then fear should not affect your life. If you allow fear to keep you from accomplishing the God-given mission for your life, then you are sinning in your fear.

Maybe you're thinking...I don't fear anything. I never walk around shaking in my boots, allowing anything to keep me from walking with Christ. Well, fear doesn't always show itself through screaming, crying or trembling. Fear can show itself in anxiety, worry, sleeplessness, feelings of loneliness, all as a result of lack of trust.

See, fear really doesn't have to do with scary roller-coasters, or large mice, or men in Rome that wear funny hats. Fear attacks us in times when we want to be in control, but are not. That's where trust comes in. We MUST TRUST in God's Biblical promises and TRUST that He is FAITHFUL to fulfill those promises. Fear becomes sinful when we do not trust that God is faithful to fulfill his promises.

Struggling with fear...just TRUST!

Anxiety/Worry-Prov 12:25; Phil 4:6-8; Isa 41:10; 2 Cor 12:9-10; Psalm 139:16; Isa 45:5-7; Rom 8:28; Isa 26:3-4

Sleeplessness-Psalm 4:8; Psalm 3:1-8; Psalm 74:16; Psalm 16:7-9; Psalm 63:6-8; Psalm 1:2; Psalm 42:8; Mat 6:34

Loneliness-Psalm 25:16; Psalm 142:1-4; Psalm 68:5-6; Deut 31:6; John 15:4; Psalm 38:9-15; Heb 13:5; Josh 1:9

Lack of Trust-Prov 3:5-6; Psalm 56:3, 11; 1 Cor 13:6-7; Psalm 5:11; Psalm 64:10; Isa 26:3; Psalm 84:12; Psalm 112:7

Question of the Week

Hey Guys

I want to hear what you think about this question. We talked about it some on Sunday night during the story about Sam James, missionary to Vietnam.

When does fear become sinful?

Comment to this post with your thoughts. Feel free to use scripture to support your position! Tell your friends to get in on this discussion.

We'll actually answer this question more fully on the Sunday after the Super Bowl in Bible Study, but I'd like to know ya'lls thoughts now!!!

(When you guys put questions in the jar, we'll discuss them here before we answer them on a Sunday night, so keep those questions coming!!!)