Praising God
I. God is good
II. God is sovereign
III. God is wise
IV. God is faithful
Listen to the playback call to hear all the testimonies we heard :)
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Christianity - The True Religion
Christianity - The only true religion.
Which God Exists? Baal, Allah, Ishtar, Yahweh.
Depends on how you look at it: Illustration Elephant and the Blind Wise Men
Cinderella - shoe fits - found the princess
Let’s look at various views of religious philosophy and see if we can find a foot that fits - if we do we will find a religion that holds an accurate view of God. Has to follow the following guidelines:
-Exists
-Is powerful
-Is Transcendent
-Is Non Contingent
-Is Intelligent
-Is Personal
-Is Moral
-Is engaged
-Is Unique
Depends on how you look at it: Illustration Elephant and the Blind Wise Men
Cinderella - shoe fits - found the princess
Let’s look at various views of religious philosophy and see if we can find a foot that fits - if we do we will find a religion that holds an accurate view of God. Has to follow the following guidelines:
-Exists
-Is powerful
-Is Transcendent
-Is Non Contingent
-Is Intelligent
-Is Personal
-Is Moral
-Is engaged
-Is Unique
Atheism - God does not exist, if He does exist we cannot know anything about Him.
Notable Atheists: Sigmund Freud, Charles Darwin, Thomas Edison, Helen Keller, Woody Allen
Agnosticism - Cannot know if God exists. Really agnosticism is not a religious view of God but rather it is a description of an individual’s current state of lack of knowledge and indecision. And thus all the same characteristics of the atheistic viewpoint are the same.
Pantheism - A religious view that everything that exists is god. Hindu’s and mormons are pantheists. Hindus have as many as 330,000,000 gods.
Notable pantheists: Steven Hawking, Albert Einstein, Henry David Thoreau,
Panentheism - God comes from the world and the world comes from God.
Notable panentheists: Plato, Socrates, Latin American Rebels.
Finite Godism - Because evil abounds, God is finite (limited).
Notable Finite Godists: Zoarastianism, Freddie Mercury - Lead singer for Queen,
Polytheism: Multitude of gods, Mormonism, Hinduism, Taoism, Shintoism, Paganism, Buddhism, Confucianism.
Notable pantheists: Joseph Smith, George Harrison
Deism - God is known only through reason and nature. It is an individualistic belief system. It has all needed attributes with the exception that God is engaged with man.
Notable Deists: Voltaire, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin
Monotheism - God is the one who created all things and sustain all things. It hits all points needed for the existence of God
“Anyone who claims that all religions are the same betrays not only the ignorance of all religions but also a caricatured view of even the best known ones”. - Ravi Zacharias.
Notable Atheists: Sigmund Freud, Charles Darwin, Thomas Edison, Helen Keller, Woody Allen
Agnosticism - Cannot know if God exists. Really agnosticism is not a religious view of God but rather it is a description of an individual’s current state of lack of knowledge and indecision. And thus all the same characteristics of the atheistic viewpoint are the same.
Pantheism - A religious view that everything that exists is god. Hindu’s and mormons are pantheists. Hindus have as many as 330,000,000 gods.
Notable pantheists: Steven Hawking, Albert Einstein, Henry David Thoreau,
Panentheism - God comes from the world and the world comes from God.
Notable panentheists: Plato, Socrates, Latin American Rebels.
Finite Godism - Because evil abounds, God is finite (limited).
Notable Finite Godists: Zoarastianism, Freddie Mercury - Lead singer for Queen,
Polytheism: Multitude of gods, Mormonism, Hinduism, Taoism, Shintoism, Paganism, Buddhism, Confucianism.
Notable pantheists: Joseph Smith, George Harrison
Deism - God is known only through reason and nature. It is an individualistic belief system. It has all needed attributes with the exception that God is engaged with man.
Notable Deists: Voltaire, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin
Monotheism - God is the one who created all things and sustain all things. It hits all points needed for the existence of God
“Anyone who claims that all religions are the same betrays not only the ignorance of all religions but also a caricatured view of even the best known ones”. - Ravi Zacharias.
Three Main Religion of Monotheism: Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. Which one is the true one or are they all false?
All three make claims about Christ.
Islam - He was a great Prophet
Judaism - He was a pretender
Christianity - He was the long waited Messiah
Islam - He was a great Prophet
Judaism - He was a pretender
Christianity - He was the long waited Messiah
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Aaron McCarty
Overcoming Peer Pressure
1. Identify the pressure.
A. There are positive and negative peer pressures.
B. Where is the pressure coming from?
I. Entertainment, lifestyle, etc.
C. Why is it coming?
I. A desire to be accepted
II. Feelings of insecurity over who and what you are
2. Deal with the problem
A. Get away from the pressure
I. True friends will accept you for who you are
B. Surround yourself with positive pear pressure
C. Pray
I. Peer pressure is a form of temptation
Friday, January 8, 2010
Guest Speaker Aaron McCarty
...on the topic of "Overcoming Peer Pressure." Now, at first this may seem a little redundant as we just had Pastor Smith speak on the topic of "Overcoming Difficult Circumstances."
However, I can assure you that this will be quite different! Hope you can listen and text in any questions you may have to me at (513) 479-7648. - Ezra
However, I can assure you that this will be quite different! Hope you can listen and text in any questions you may have to me at (513) 479-7648. - Ezra
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Ezra Byer - Having a Faith that is Grounded
Introduction
As we get ready to close out this 2009 year and enter into 2010, I specifically wanted to address our group here in Powerline about a topic that has steadily been rising to my attention over the past couple years and has now reached a point of such significance in my life that I am just busting at the seams to share it with you tonight.
I positively love speaking to you all because you are an intelligent group of adults who have enough commitment and love for God that you have called in to learn more about Him on this call tonight. As stated already, my topic this evening is “Having a Faith that is grounded.” So let’s take a look for a couple minutes on this subject.
Main Body
NAU John 3:12 "If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?
Over the past couple of years, the nations of Canada and the United States are growing increasingly pagan in regard to Christianity.
• In 1962 prayer was removed from public school.
• Currently in the states of Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, and Vermont, marriages for same sex couples are legal and performed daily.
• As of 2003 there were 1.3 million porn websites in the United States. A survey taken in 2001 revealed that 37% of pastors in the US struggle daily with porn and a survey taken in 2005 revealed that over 50% of men in a typical church congregation view porn at least once a week.
• Each year there are around 50 million abortions worldwide with over 1.5 million coming from the US
You could debate these statistics but it is quite obvious to see that there has been a radical spiritual decline in North America over the past half-century.
But why is this the case? Let’s take the US for example, the greatest Christian nation on earth. People in the US live in a time when Bible tools, seminaries, and Christian TV/radio shows are at an all time high – yet if you ask anyone in America today they will tell you that the nation is declining spiritually.
Why is this the case? Let me explain why I believe this is happening. I believe the reason why we are losing many teens and adults out of our churches today is because there is a severe lack of Christian individuals who are adequately prepared to defend their faith. Let me explain…
Over 85% of Christian teens in the United States (and probably higher in Canada) today currently attend a public school. That leaves only 15% who either Home school or attend a Christian School. In the public schools, what are these individuals being taught?
• They are being taught Evolution and billions of years.
• They are being taught that the Bible is only a good moral book but is not scientifically accurate
• And they are being taught that people need to be tolerant of every religion and whatever you believe is for you and whatever I believe is for me
Sadly, most Christian Sunday school leaders, pastors, and small group leaders do not do an adequate job of preparing their kids/teens for what they will face in the world and let me explain why. If you were to go up to your average Sunday school teacher like Mrs. Brown and ask her what she teaches in Sunday school, she would probably say “Bible Stories.” After all, that is what little Johnny and Susie wants to hear. And then you ask her if she teaches such things as the Biblical view of astronomy, anthropology, geology, etc… and she will most likely say no.
So as a result, if kids/teens/adults can’t go to church to learn a Biblical view of astronomy, physics, and biology, etc… where are they going to go? That’s right; they are going to go to their public schools! Public school explains things such things as dinosaurs, millions of years, fossils, etc… and when teens or kids in the public schools bring their problems to their teacher – what is the response that they often get? “I’m not quite sure about that Johnny but trust in Jesus anyway!”
And the poor teen or adult is left scratching his head and saying, “Well, since the church can’t give me the answers that I need, I am going to go to the school and get the real answers.” They are left with the impression that the church is about myth and Bible Stories and that the only place to find real facts is at school.
After all, when you look up the word “Story” in the dictionary, it simply means a fairy tale or fictional account. People in the world today, both old and young, are being taught a mindset that says the Bible’s cosmology is wrong because it teaches that God created the earth and not the “Big Bang,” the Bible’s geology is wrong because it argues for a 6,000-10,000 year earth and not millions of years, and the Bible’s biology is wrong because it says we were created from one man and one woman and didn’t evolve over millions of years.
Sadly, the response of many Christians to these accusations is just to say, “Well, I ain’t got that much learnin, but I know you should trust in Jesus because He lives inside of my heart!”
Now, don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that a person who is not learned in defending their faith is worthless because I know of many Godly individuals who don’t know a whole lot and have made a powerful impact in the world for God.
But I do believe what Luke 12:48 says, “From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more.” God has given most of us much more than other people in history or individuals in our world today. And I would argue that to go through life not knowing how to defend your faith properly and not knowing how to teach others will leave you looking very poorly on the day of judgment when God asks you to give an account of your life.
You need to know how to defend your faith in the areas of biology, geology, anthropology, and others. If we simply focus on Christian morals and teaching against things like abortion, homosexuality, and pornography without giving a reason for why we can believe the Bible in the first place, then our message to individuals will be like fluff.
I believe that our message of holiness is correct and let me give you my short explanation for this world’s existence…
Ezra’s Defense
I believe God created the world in six literal days and not over billions of years. I believe that God created a perfect world of no death in which man could live. But man damaged that perfect world by eating of the “Tree of Life” and thus bringing sin into the world. Because of this separation from God, God sent His only Son Jesus into the world and had Him die on a wooden cross.
But my basis for everything that I believe is that Jesus rose from the dead and three days later was seen by hundreds of eyewitness testimony and was documented very soundly with historical evidence in over 24,000 historical documents – much more than any secular writing of that day.
I believe that Jesus is coming back one day to take all those to heaven who live for Him and choose to repent and ask forgiveness for their sins, and who choose to enter into a relationship with God and continue in that relationship until death.
Conclusion
I conclude with the verse that I read in the opening…
NAU John 3:12 "If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?
People will never believe the heavenly things that we teach unless we have the earthly facts in place. We must make sure that our faith in God has substance and is not just a faith that is built upon generational teachings or raw emotions! God has given us an amazing amount of resources that can be used to equip us to teach others and we should not take that for granted. Will it take a lot of hard work on your part to get yourself competently equipped to take on some of these issues? YES!
How to get equipped
You must develop a library full of resources. And here are some suggestions for how you can start.
Resources
• Good Study Bible!
• Answers Books – Ken Ham
• YouTube videos by Ken Ham, William Lane Craig, Ravi Zacharias, etc…
• MP3 Player and put the Bible on it (KJV recommended)
There are many other things that you can do but the point that I want to leave you with is that it is vitally important for you to have your faith completely grounded God’s Word. We must give answers for why we believe it and we must give answers for what it teaches.
I encourage each of you to do as I Peter 3:15 commands us to do, “...always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you.”
Let’s make a commitment in this coming year of 2010 to set some goals that will help us be better equipped to defend what we believe.
As we get ready to close out this 2009 year and enter into 2010, I specifically wanted to address our group here in Powerline about a topic that has steadily been rising to my attention over the past couple years and has now reached a point of such significance in my life that I am just busting at the seams to share it with you tonight.
I positively love speaking to you all because you are an intelligent group of adults who have enough commitment and love for God that you have called in to learn more about Him on this call tonight. As stated already, my topic this evening is “Having a Faith that is grounded.” So let’s take a look for a couple minutes on this subject.
Main Body
NAU John 3:12 "If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?
Over the past couple of years, the nations of Canada and the United States are growing increasingly pagan in regard to Christianity.
• In 1962 prayer was removed from public school.
• Currently in the states of Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, and Vermont, marriages for same sex couples are legal and performed daily.
• As of 2003 there were 1.3 million porn websites in the United States. A survey taken in 2001 revealed that 37% of pastors in the US struggle daily with porn and a survey taken in 2005 revealed that over 50% of men in a typical church congregation view porn at least once a week.
• Each year there are around 50 million abortions worldwide with over 1.5 million coming from the US
You could debate these statistics but it is quite obvious to see that there has been a radical spiritual decline in North America over the past half-century.
But why is this the case? Let’s take the US for example, the greatest Christian nation on earth. People in the US live in a time when Bible tools, seminaries, and Christian TV/radio shows are at an all time high – yet if you ask anyone in America today they will tell you that the nation is declining spiritually.
Why is this the case? Let me explain why I believe this is happening. I believe the reason why we are losing many teens and adults out of our churches today is because there is a severe lack of Christian individuals who are adequately prepared to defend their faith. Let me explain…
Over 85% of Christian teens in the United States (and probably higher in Canada) today currently attend a public school. That leaves only 15% who either Home school or attend a Christian School. In the public schools, what are these individuals being taught?
• They are being taught Evolution and billions of years.
• They are being taught that the Bible is only a good moral book but is not scientifically accurate
• And they are being taught that people need to be tolerant of every religion and whatever you believe is for you and whatever I believe is for me
Sadly, most Christian Sunday school leaders, pastors, and small group leaders do not do an adequate job of preparing their kids/teens for what they will face in the world and let me explain why. If you were to go up to your average Sunday school teacher like Mrs. Brown and ask her what she teaches in Sunday school, she would probably say “Bible Stories.” After all, that is what little Johnny and Susie wants to hear. And then you ask her if she teaches such things as the Biblical view of astronomy, anthropology, geology, etc… and she will most likely say no.
So as a result, if kids/teens/adults can’t go to church to learn a Biblical view of astronomy, physics, and biology, etc… where are they going to go? That’s right; they are going to go to their public schools! Public school explains things such things as dinosaurs, millions of years, fossils, etc… and when teens or kids in the public schools bring their problems to their teacher – what is the response that they often get? “I’m not quite sure about that Johnny but trust in Jesus anyway!”
And the poor teen or adult is left scratching his head and saying, “Well, since the church can’t give me the answers that I need, I am going to go to the school and get the real answers.” They are left with the impression that the church is about myth and Bible Stories and that the only place to find real facts is at school.
After all, when you look up the word “Story” in the dictionary, it simply means a fairy tale or fictional account. People in the world today, both old and young, are being taught a mindset that says the Bible’s cosmology is wrong because it teaches that God created the earth and not the “Big Bang,” the Bible’s geology is wrong because it argues for a 6,000-10,000 year earth and not millions of years, and the Bible’s biology is wrong because it says we were created from one man and one woman and didn’t evolve over millions of years.
Sadly, the response of many Christians to these accusations is just to say, “Well, I ain’t got that much learnin, but I know you should trust in Jesus because He lives inside of my heart!”
Now, don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that a person who is not learned in defending their faith is worthless because I know of many Godly individuals who don’t know a whole lot and have made a powerful impact in the world for God.
But I do believe what Luke 12:48 says, “From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more.” God has given most of us much more than other people in history or individuals in our world today. And I would argue that to go through life not knowing how to defend your faith properly and not knowing how to teach others will leave you looking very poorly on the day of judgment when God asks you to give an account of your life.
You need to know how to defend your faith in the areas of biology, geology, anthropology, and others. If we simply focus on Christian morals and teaching against things like abortion, homosexuality, and pornography without giving a reason for why we can believe the Bible in the first place, then our message to individuals will be like fluff.
I believe that our message of holiness is correct and let me give you my short explanation for this world’s existence…
Ezra’s Defense
I believe God created the world in six literal days and not over billions of years. I believe that God created a perfect world of no death in which man could live. But man damaged that perfect world by eating of the “Tree of Life” and thus bringing sin into the world. Because of this separation from God, God sent His only Son Jesus into the world and had Him die on a wooden cross.
But my basis for everything that I believe is that Jesus rose from the dead and three days later was seen by hundreds of eyewitness testimony and was documented very soundly with historical evidence in over 24,000 historical documents – much more than any secular writing of that day.
I believe that Jesus is coming back one day to take all those to heaven who live for Him and choose to repent and ask forgiveness for their sins, and who choose to enter into a relationship with God and continue in that relationship until death.
Conclusion
I conclude with the verse that I read in the opening…
NAU John 3:12 "If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?
People will never believe the heavenly things that we teach unless we have the earthly facts in place. We must make sure that our faith in God has substance and is not just a faith that is built upon generational teachings or raw emotions! God has given us an amazing amount of resources that can be used to equip us to teach others and we should not take that for granted. Will it take a lot of hard work on your part to get yourself competently equipped to take on some of these issues? YES!
How to get equipped
You must develop a library full of resources. And here are some suggestions for how you can start.
Resources
• Good Study Bible!
• Answers Books – Ken Ham
• YouTube videos by Ken Ham, William Lane Craig, Ravi Zacharias, etc…
• MP3 Player and put the Bible on it (KJV recommended)
There are many other things that you can do but the point that I want to leave you with is that it is vitally important for you to have your faith completely grounded God’s Word. We must give answers for why we believe it and we must give answers for what it teaches.
I encourage each of you to do as I Peter 3:15 commands us to do, “...always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you.”
Let’s make a commitment in this coming year of 2010 to set some goals that will help us be better equipped to defend what we believe.
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