QUESTION BOX 1

I hope you enjoyed our intro video tonight on the questions of finding your SOULMATE. I will post later this week on the numerous questions we received about dating and relationships.

However, I wanted to aim my first QUESTION BOX post at the several questions we received regarding emotions, feelings and self-image.

Here are some of the questions I will try to answer:

"WHY AM I NEVER GOOD ENOUGH?"
"WHY DO I SOMETIMES HATE EVERYTHING ABOUT ME?"
"WHY DOES IT FEEL LIKE I AM DROWNING WHEN EVERYBODY ELSE IS BREATHING?"
"WHY DO I FEEL SO LOW SOMETIMES?"

As with anything, there is really two sides to these questions.

One is the fact that we are a flawed people. We by nature make mistakes, fall short, mess up. And the Bible confirms this: "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23)

So, no matter who you are or how hard you try, you will have times where you fail. God knows this.

And you should feel bad about this. God has set a high standard because our flaws actually separate us from Him. So He has given us His Word to tell us what is right and wrong and He has sent His Spirit to remind us of our need to turn from wrong things. 2 Corinthians 7:10 says "For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death."

So God shows us our flaws so we might turn to Him.

Now, the other side. God created you. He loves you. You are made in His image. He looks at you as His creation that He loves. That's why He tells you right from wrong. That's why He sent Jesus. That's why He has went to such great lengths to restore a relationship with you.

So in closing, we must rightly access ourselves in view of God's laws so that we might turn to a loving and gracious God who has paid for those mistakes and wants to forgive them and restore us.

I'd love to hear comments or further questions. More QUESTION BOX posts coming soon.

Don't Check Your Brains At the Door...

This week we started our new series: DON'T CHECK YOUR BRAINS AT THE DOOR.

Over the next eight weeks we will attempt to answer some of the biggest questions regarding the Christian faith. We will also be equipping our students on how to respond to questions they receive from others.

Our first week proved to be a lively discussion as we tackled the topic: "IS THERE A GOD?"

While I think we brought up more questions than we answered, I believe it was a good start to what will be a very useful series.

Each week, I will post a recap of the main message points (and the things we didn't get to) in a blog post. That post will then be followed with a post answering any additional questions we received in the Question Box at our Resource Table. Feel free to join in the discussion or post additional questions in the comments section of either of these posts.

Now for the week one recap:

There are four main arguments for the existence of God.

1) COSMOLOGICAL: This is the idea that science and faith both believe that the universe is not infinite, so it must have a beginning. If it has a beginning, then the question that follows is "What started the Universe". Science has several theories but the most widely known is that of the Big Bang. However, over the past several years, scientist's understanding has changed. That change is probably best summed up by physicist Stephen Weinberg's quote:

"In the beginning there was an explosion. Not an explosion like those familiar on Earth...[It was] an explosion which occurred simultaneously everywhere, filling all space from the beginning with every particle of matter rushing apart from every other particle."

This sounds an awful lot like "God said, 'Let there be light and there was light.'" (Genesis 1)

2)TELEOLOGICAL: This speaks to the thought of created things showing that they were created with an "end" in mind. William Paley proposed this with his analogy of walking along and finding a watch on the ground. Because of its SPECIFIED COMPLEXITY it tells us that it was created by an intelligent being with an end purpose in mind.

3) ONTOLOGICAL: This is the thought that if we can think it or desire it, it must be. C.S. Lewis puts it like this: "Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exist. A baby feels hunger, well, there is such a thing as food. A duckling wants to swim, well, there is such a thing as water. Men feel sexual desire, well, there is such a thing as sex. If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world."

Now, so far, all of these arguments could lead one to believe in a god, of which there are many proposed options. But it is with the last argument that we get specific to the God of the Bible.

4) MORAL ARGUMENT: This comes from the understanding that all people and cultures have a basic understanding of right and wrong. There are no evolutionary reasons that satisfactorily explain this phenomenon. As Romans 2:14-15 points out: "For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. 15 They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them".

I would love to hear your thoughts and comments on this post.

Looking For Love...

We are all looking for love.

It's just a question of if we are looking in the right places.

Last night as a part of our series on Identity and the book of Ephesians, our Youth Ministry looked at the issue of love and relationships. As we looked at the last half of Ephesians chapter 5, our conclusion was that our love for anyone else must come from God's love for us. Therefore any attempts we make at finding that special someone to love us must be fueled by our satisfaction in Christ.

That changes everything.

Throughout history, every culture has it's rituals and practices for finding a mate. There's the Apples-in-the-Arm-Pits Dance from Austria. There's the Empty-Knife-Sheath from Finland. There's Bundling from early American history. But perhaps the strangest practice was a modern invention:

The Dating Game.

The Dating Game was a long-running television game show featuring a person looking for a date and three prospects. Without seeing or knowing any of the three contestants, the date-seeker would ask three questions and then decide which person they would date.

It looked something like this:



So here's my challenge to you: After considering the principles for relationships in Ephesians 5:22-33, what THREE QUESTIONS would you ask of a prospective date?

Don't Be An Ostrich...

So I saw this on Facebook the other day and it made me laugh...

It made me laugh because we ALL know what they thought we'd be using Snapchat for.

But wait, let me back up a minute. Maybe you don't know what Snapchat is. Snapchat is a social media app that lets you send pictures that disappear forever a few seconds after the recipient views them...sort of.

Due to recent litigation between the founders of Snapchat, lots of new info has come to light about the origin of the app and the status of your pictures. I ran across this article that highlights some of these issues as well as informs parents of the potential dangers of Snapchat.

If you are a parent of a teenager or work with young people in some capacity, I STRONGLY urge you to read this article. If you have any questions, please post in the comments or contact me directly at ministryonpurpose@hotmail.com

It's An Imitation...

This week was my daughter Hannah's birthday. Following the precedent set by her brother, Hannah asked for me to take her somewhere special...the Waffle House

So we set off for a father-daughter date full of grease and sugar and fond memories.

Now her choice may seem odd to you, but you have to understand she is her father's daughter and the Waffle House has always held a special place in my heart. She was just imitating a love she sees in me.

I have often been told how much my children look like me, but they also imitate me in actions and interests and tastes. That's partly because they love me and want to be like me, but it's also partly because I love them and have built into their life.

The Scripture is rich with references to God being our Father. On Wednesday night, our youth ministry looked at the concept that God has adopted us as children.

Think about that for a moment. The Creator of the universe looked at you - despite your flaws and your sins - and he paid the adoption price - His own Son's blood - so that you could be His.

He picked you.

That is the beauty of adoption. You get picked. Despite your situation, circumstances, condition, you get chosen.

And when we realize that, it makes us want to be more like our dad. Ephesians 5:1 says it best:

"Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children."

As we were getting ready to leave the Waffle House, I reached for the ticket that had been placed face down on the table. One phrase on the back jumped out at me.

Make sure you thank you Heavenly Father for choosing you today.

I'm So Excited....

Upon returning from vacation, Pastor Doug gave my children one of those growing alien toys as a souvenir.

You know, one of those ones where you put it in a jar of water and it grows to 600% of it's original size.

and it glows in the dark.

My kids are totally in love with it.

They change it's water everyday. They care for it meticulously. They are convinced that they are going to grow it to be life-sized. And they tell EVERYONE about it.

Just last night one of Hannah's friends came over for a few minutes, and Hannah gave her this dissertation about the proper care of your alien.

I think the poor little girl is going to have nightmares.

But it got me to thinking...we can't stop talking about things we are excited about. So what do you talk about?

I had a member of our congregation stop by this morning and she just wanted to share all of the good things God was doing in her life. All of them revolved around opportunities she had to share with others about God and His love and grace and power. As she teared up I realized how excited she was about God and these opportunities He was giving her.

It reminded me of my kids and their alien.

May we fall in love with God in such a way this week that we can't stop talking about HIM!!

God Gives the BEST Gifts...

At last night's youth service we continued looking at our identity and the book of Ephesians by talking about how our gifts don't give us our identity but rather our identity gives us our gifts.

This truth comes from the fact that it is only after we receive Christ and our relationship with Him defines who we are that we receive and understand Spiritual Gifts. We also learned that our gifts and talents are not for our good; but for the good of others.

The lists of some possible spiritual gifts that God may be giving you are found in 1 Corinthians 12:8-10; 1 Corinthians 12:28-30; Romans 12:6-8; Ephesians 4:11; and 1 Peter 4:11. Here is a link to a website with a clear list and definitions of most of these gifts.

So I want to hear from you this week. What gifts do you think you have and why? What are you doing to test out these gifts? Where is God leading you to serve for the good of others as a result of the gifts you have?