Filed under: 8 - The Bible
The Bible
Christians believe that the Bible is the most important book ever written – inspired by God, a gift from Him to us. We have made it the best-selling book of all time, by far. But most copies that are sold are not read, just put up on a shelf or on the coffee table in our homes. Why do you suppose that is?
What do we believe about this book, how did we get it, and why should we read it?
Inspired by God
As Presbyterians, we believe that the Bible is “the inspired word of God”. The word “inspire” comes from the Latin word inspirare which means “to breathe into” (strange, when we study God we keep discovering words about breathing). We know that the 66 books of the Bible were written by 40 different authors over 1600 years. When we believe these authors were inspired by God, we are saying that God breathed His truth into the words. When the prophets spoke and their words were written down, we received God’s words. When the authors of the Gospels wrote the stories they collected from the followers of a Jewish rabbi named Jesus, we received God’s story. And we believe that God inspired those who throughout history have researched and prayed to create the Bible we read today, assembling some works while rejecting others, to present God’s truth to our modern world.
The Story
What is “the story” of the Bible? At face value, it seems to be a collection of many different things: historical narrative, rules to live by, poetry and songs, mystical visions, letters from disciples to followers. Is there one consistent theme that we could capture in just a few words?
The Bible is a collection of stories about people who were in relationship with God. All the books center on people in partnership with God, that were given God’s authority to carry out His work in the world. We beleive the Bible is God’s authoritative Word and that all Scripture is inspired by the Holy Spirit. It has been called God’s love letter to His people. It has also been called the Manufacturer’s Handbook.
Why would God want us to have a book like that? Instead of a book that speaks in so many different ways — ways that we have to interpret and study and wrestle with — why doesn’t God just write down the rules, and only the rules? That way, when we need His answers, we could go straight to the index and look them up!
We believe God gave us the Bible that we have because he does not want us to just look up the answers. Remember how we found evidence in Genesis that we were created to be partners with God? God wants humans to be His partners in the work He is doing in the world. Just as God gives us His Holy Spirit for guidance, He gives us this Bible for the same purpose. God wants growth, motion forward, in new directions that, as partners under His guidance, we decide. But in order to receive His guidance and decide wisely, we need the stories of others that have walked with God.
Stories Make Us Think
The narrative style of the Bible reminds me of the way Jesus taught many of his most important lessons. Jesus used stories too, called parables, to engage his listeners and make them think for themselves. Jesus told the parable of the sower (Luke 8:4-15) instead of shouting, “the best way to receive the Word of God is in your heart!” Jesus told the story of the good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) instead of telling the rich man, “everyone is your neighbor.”
God knows that the best way to draw us humans into relationship is to make us think, and stories do that. Just like a really good movie or book, the parables of Jesus and the stories of the Bible seem at first like a different world with characters that we begin to recognize as the story unfolds. We have to think about them, find the moral, and find ourselves. Then we are fully engaged, thinking through all the consequences of “everyone is your neighbor” that we’d have otherwise missed.
Hearing God’s Word
Christians believe that God speaks to us through the Bible. But we cannot hear His voice and think about His stories unless we read. Reading the Bible is something you should strive to do every day.
Consider your Bible. Do you like it? Do you find it easy to read or is the language difficult? There are dozens of English translations of the Bible available to us today. Is one better than the others? Scholars will argue that some translations are closer to the historical texts (written in Aramaic, Hebrew, and Greek) than others, but the best translation of the Bible for you is the one that you will read. In class we looked at several Bibles that were designed to be more accessible to young people. If those looked interesting to you, please contact me or get down to the bookstore and check them out for yourself.
If God really does speak to us through the Bible, how can we hear Him? The assignment this week is to experience God’s word through the Bible. All ways begin with prayer. Ask God to focus your mind to hear His guiding voice. Notice the attitude of this prayer: of course God will speak to you; what you need is His help with listening. That is my prayer to God for every confirmand. I know that God is faithful, that He will speak to you. My prayer is that you will make the effort to listen.
Filed under: 10 The Sacraments
God’s plan is to invite us back into relationship with Him. God sent His Son, Jesus Christ to become human and live with us and die as the ultimate sacrifice. And Jesus promised to send us the Holy Spirit, to live inside those of us who choose to believe, to guide us in the path of God’s will, and to bring us gifts of joy and abundant life.
Visible Signs of God’s Grace
God gave us special ways to receive His invitation into this new relationship, or covenant, with Him, and to experience His living presence in our lives. We call these sacraments. A sacrament is an outward, visible sign of God’s inward, spiritual grace. And grace is God’s love which rescues us, providing that bridge across the chasm of separation into relationship with Him. Grace is a gift from God which we do not deserve and cannot earn, but is given to us freely from a loving Father to His children.
Presbyterians believe in two forms of sacrament: Baptism and The Lord’s Supper, also called Holy Communion. In these sacraments, God uses physical elements (water, bread, the cup) as vehicles for us to acknowledge and receive His grace. God knows that we are physical beings, so He gives us these physical ways to experience His spiritual world.
Baptism
The Christian tradition of baptism comes to us from John the Baptist, who was Jesus’ cousin. At the very beginning of Christ’s ministry, Matthew 3:11-17, Jesus asks John to baptize him in the river Jordan. Then after his resurrection, Jesus tells his disciples:
“Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit“. (Matthew 29:19 NIV)
Notice how baptism marks both the beginning Christ’s own mission, and also the mission he gave his disciples: to spread the Gospel, the news of God’s new covenant, throughout the world. The symbol of baptism must be very important somehow.
Baptism is actually an ancient ritual of cleansing. The Jewish tradition, from the Hebrew word mikvah, refers to a bath in flowing water to clean and purify the body. The mikvah was therefore closely related to the observance of Jewish laws for cleanliness, required frequently in order to wash away sin and turn back toward God.
As Christians, we believe that the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross has cleansed us of our sins once and for all. When we accept God into our lives, marked by our own baptism, we are no longer “unclean” in God’s eyes, but purified and ready to meet Him in loving relationship, now and forever more. And we are also connected through baptism to Jesus Christ, baptized into his life and into his death and resurrection.
When you are confirmed, the pastor will ask you to “remember your baptism, and be thankful.” He will use water to symbolize the renewal of your baptism. If you were baptized as a baby, you probably cannot actually remember the event of your baptism. But you can remember that you have been baptized, marked by God and cleansed of all judgment of your sin, forever ready to accept God’s invitation to walk with Him. It is yet another part of becoming a Christian adult and claiming for yourself both faith in God and the love of God, which was first claimed for you by your family.
Holy Communion, The Sacament of The Lord’s Supper
The Lord’s Supper is often called Holy Communion. Sometimes it is called the Eucharist, which comes from a Greek word meaning “thanksgiving.” The Lord’s Supper is the second form of sacrament that Presbyterians observe. Whereas baptism is performed only once in our lives, the Lord’s Supper (holy communion) is a frequent reminder that God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are ever present in our lives.
The tradition of the Lord’s Supper (holy communion) comes from Jesus himself. In the Gospel according to Luke we read of Jesus and his disciples at the Last Supper:
And [Jesus] took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.” (Luke 22:19-20 NIV)
Jesus describes the bread and the cup as symbols of his death, his sacrifice for our sins. His body is broken and given for us. His blood is poured out for us. And the “new covenant” is of course God’s rescue plan, fulfilled by Jesus, across the chasm that separated us from God.
In the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper we are reminded that “Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again.” We are reminded that our sins have been forgiven and we are invited into relationship with our loving, perfect creator. We affirm that Jesus Christ is risen and that He is our Lord and Savior!
Filed under: 9 - Sin and Forgiveness
God Hates Sin, But Loves the Sinner Through Jesus
God Gives Us A Choice
In studying Genesis we saw that God put humans in charge of His creation. Think about that again: God “gave” us the earth. The whole of creation, which God loaded with potential, was ours to take somewhere. And we were God’s partners, created to subdue the Earth and it’s creatures and rule over them.
Let’s return to Genesis and read what happens next.
Gen 2:15-17, God sets only one commandment, and also pronounces the penalty: “for when you eat of it, you will surely die.”
Gen 3:1-7, Adam and Eve are tempted, and they disobey God’s only commandment.
God created Earth and gave it to us. He lived with us, walked the earth (Gen 3:8) in close relationship with us. He gave us one rule, but He also gave us a choice: we were free to choose whether or not we would live by this one rule. And what happened? We chose not to trust God but to try our own way.
Choosing our own way instead of God’s way is called “sin”. This act of sin described in Genesis 3 is the same sin that every one of us commits today, choosing not to trust fully in God, but instead trusting in ourselves. Have you thought about that before? We are able to choose to either trust in God and live as He asks, or try to go it on our own. What would you say the majority of people choose, God’s way or their own? Which way do you choose most of the time? Honestly. So the story of Adam and Eve, at that level, is the story of every one of us to this day.
The gift from God to make our own decisions is often called “free will” – meaning God made us able to live with him, but also gave us the freedom to choice not to.
Creation Fell With Us
Adam and Eve were in charge of creation, and they decided to try their own way instead of following God’s rule. So what happens to creation? Creation falls along with the humans who rule over it. In Eden, God made the plants bring forth food for people to eat. But without God, man has to do the work and suffer the thorns and droughts that come when we live apart from God.
It is a huge and important point. When we chose to leave the protection of God in Genesis 3, we took creation with us.
Does this seem like a harsh punishment from God? Let’s look at that question from God’s point of view. If God gives us free will and we make a choice, should God respect our choice, even if it was a bad choice? If God did not respect our choices, then we don’t really have free will at all.
The Good News Story
Now, that could be the end of the story. God gives us the choice to live with him or to reject him, and we choose to reject Him. So God says, “you want to go it your own way, fine. Life is hard, and then you die. Good luck.”
But the story doesn’t end in Genesis. What happens next?
The story of the Bible can be broken into 16 steps. This is a story that every Christian should know and be able to tell.
1) God Is – We begin with the mystery that God has always existed. Before anything, there was God.
2) Creation – God creates the universe, and it is good.
3) Humans with God – God creates humans in his image to rule over creation, and He walks among them in relationship with them.
4) Separation – The boundaries created by God to preserve love, and to care and protect, are destroyed. People choose to not trust God and the world becomes broken, and people become separated from God.
5) Rescue – God grieves the separation, but does not give up on us. He finds a man and woman (Abraham and Sarah) worthy of rescue and tells them of His plan to build a new future with mankind, through their descendants, the Israelites.
6) Covenant – God offers to include the Israelites in His rescue plan if they are willing. The relationship is not forced upon them. Those that accept His offer are given instructions for how to live and succeed in this new relationship with Him.
7) Sacrifice – God makes a way to bridge the separation. In relationships, things drift (sin) and then need to be made right (justice). God provides a sacrifice system as a way for people to admit their guilt, for justice to be done, and to allow for forgiveness. This is the hardest part to understand – that God is perfectly just and therefore cannot forgive sin without sacrifice. The separation between Humans and God cannot be bridged without sacrifice.
Prophets - The rescue plan has only begun. The gulf is still wide and sacrifice is hard and only temporary. God’s chosen people are oppressed both on Earth and in the spiritual realm. Prophets spoke the truth about God, reminding people to be faithful, and predicting the coming of the Messiah and a new covenant from God to all people.
9) God Arrives – God arrives just as the prophets said. God loves us so much that he becomes one of us.
10) Service – People expect the Messiah to use power and force to make things happen in the earthly realm. But Jesus uses his power to serve. This is a glimpse of what it means to Love the Father and love each other. It is a revolution not of the earthly situation, but of the spiritual realm.
11) Cross – God Dies. Jesus actions and purpose take on a deeper meaning at the cross. We see that God, all along, has determined to make things right after so much has gone wrong. He chooses to restore the relationship with His creation through the perfect sacrifice that absorbs all judgment of sin, creating the portal for unlimited forgiveness.
12) Resurrection – God Breaks Through. With the perfect sacrifice made, God can begin the restoration of the whole world. The restoration begins with Jesus, who is risen from the dead. We still experience the effects of a broken world, but Jesus gives us hope that all will be healed.
13) Redemption – The new covenant, restoring the work of God through Jesus’ death and resurrection. The Temple curtain is torn, meaning we are no longer separated from God, and God is no longer isolated to the center of the Temple. God has established a renewed path to relationship.
14) Invitation – God calls us back into relationship with Him, to live out our purpose of a new partnership with Him to bring about His Kingdom through our own healing actions on our world. The
15) Holy Spirit – God Dwells Within. Jesus promised that his followers would never be left alone and that where followers are gathered, he is present with them. His presence comes from the sending of the Holy Spirit, who dwells within the believer and the church, guiding followers on their journey.
16) Vision – God Authorizes, Extends – the ripple effect. We are called to make disciples and to continue to reflect on God’s love and hope of the healing of our world. And as we read in Revelation, the end of the story is the earthly realm becoming reconciled once again with heaven, becoming healed and brought back in line with God’s purpose for it in the first place.
What Does God Want?
Why did all this have to be? Why doesn’t God just snap His fingers and fix everything?
The intermediate answer is: free will. If we do not have to live with the consequences of our choices, then we are not really free to choose at all.
But then, if the price of free will is all this brokenness, why is free will important? And this bring us to the ultimate answer. Because God desires two things of us: faith and love. Can either be forced or coerced?
Can you force someone to love you? Well, you can show someone that you are good, that you love them, that you want to care for them and that you have their best interests at heart. So, if you did all those things (just like God does for us), will they automatically love you? No. You cannot make someone love you – they must choose to do that. Love is an emotion that comes from freedom.
Assignment:
Every Christian needs to be able to tell others why Jesus came to save us and how that happens for people. When a friend challenges you about your faith, asks you what you believe or what the Bible is really about, will you be able to tell them the story?
Your assignment is to tell this story to your parents and your mentors. If you can repeat the story from memory using the symbols we drew in class, it will help you remember and help you profess your faith. It is a story that, unfortunately, not every Christian can tell.
Filed under: 7- Prayer
What is Prayer? – Talking With God
What is prayer? Prayer is our direct line with heaven. Prayer is a communication process that allows us to talk to God! He wants us to communicate with Him, like a person-to-person phone call. Cell phones and other devices have become a necessity to some people in today’s society. We have blue tubes, blackberries, and talking computers! These are means of communication that allow two or more people to interact, discuss, and respond to one another.
To many, prayer seems complicated, but it is simply talking to God. Here are some points about what prayer is:
What is Prayer? – The Logistics
Many people question what is prayer because they desire to pray, but don’t know how. Consider these tips:
- What Do I Say? Praying is like talking to your best friend! It’s easy to talk to someone when you know they love you unconditionally!
- Ask Jesus to forgive you of your sins and make you new in Him! “Now turn from your sins and turn to God, so you can be cleansed of your sins” (Acts 3:19).
- Tell Him your needs! “Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about what happens to you” (1 Peter 5:7).
- Thank Him, for He died on the cross at Calvary for us! “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
- How Do I Say It? Here’s how I have learned to approach the Savior of my life.
- With confidence and belief that He will deliver: “Because of Christ and our faith in him, we can now come fearlessly into God’s presence, assured of his glad welcome” (Ephesians 3:12). “So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it” (Hebrews 4:16).
- With joy that He can deliver. “You have shown me the way of life, and you will give me wonderful joy in your presence” (Acts 2:28).
- With expectation that He is going to deliver. “Listen to my voice in the morning, LORD. Each morning I bring my requests to you and wait expectantly” (Psalm 5:3). “I am praying to you because I know you will answer, O God. Bend down and listen as I pray” (Psalm 17:6).
What is Prayer? – What Does the Bible Say?
Pray for each other. Jesus set an example for us on what to pray. He prayed for His disciples and for every generation to come that would follow Him. His prayer was that God protect and strengthen them as long as they were in this world. Jesus also prayed for those who would come to believe in Him through the Gospel message (John 17).
Pray with faith. “So, you see, it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that there is a God and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him” (Hebrews 11:6).
Pray with worship and reverence. “Exalt the LORD our God! Bow low before his feet, for he is holy!” (Psalm 99:5). “‘Yes, Lord,’ the man said, ‘I believe!’ And he worshiped Jesus” (John 9:38).
You will know with confidence that God can hear you when you pray, so open that line of communication! Pray, knowing that no matter how far you roam, your connection with Him can never be lost!
“I pray that your love for each other will overflow more and more, and that you will keep on growing in your knowledge and understanding” (Philippians 1:9).
Daily Prayer at your Computer
God loves you so much that He wants to speak to you every single day. Every Christian should dedicate some time each day to talk with God in prayer.
Do you find that difficult to do? Here are two wonderful web sites that can help you focus a few minutes of every day on God, to speak to Him and listen to His word. Click on one of the links below to give it a try.
Filed under: 6 - The Church
Working Together
WHAT IS THE CHURCH?
Is the church a building? “Church” comes from the Greek word ekklesia which means “assembly”. When the Bible speaks of the “Church”, it means a group of people, not a building. The early Christian church was about people coming together, sharing their beliefs to accomplish the mission set forth by Jesus Christ. So what might being in confirmation class and youth fellowship teach us about people coming together on a shared mission?
• Fellowship is a better way to live than by ourselves – more fun, more fulfilling
• Learning together and learning from each other – nobody had all the right answers
• Working together you can get places you could not have gotten on your own
This lesson looks at what the Christian church is all about. Why we are called to be Christians and why we form faith communities that worship together instead of each of us searching for our faith on our own.
The Rock
Matthew 7:24-27 Jesus tells a straight-forward story about building upon a strong foundation that can withstand the wind and the rain. Jesus uses the words “the rock” to represent that place where we can build a faith that will stay strong.
Matthew 16:15-19 Jesus asks all of the disciples a direct question: “Who do you say that I am?” Simon responds, “you are the Christ, Son of the living God”. When Simon answers Jesus’ question with such certanty, Jesus responds by renaming him “Peter” which means “rock”. (remember how we talked back in the first session about how a person’s name reflected their character?)
Then Jesus tells Peter that he is the rock upon which Jesus will build his church. This is the first time the word “church” is used in the Bible. So, after Jesus taught about building upon a strong foundation, Jesus names Peter “the Rock”. Why? What happened that inspired Jesus so?
Peter’s statement of faith represents the beginning of the Christian church. The church is built upon this rock of faith, that Jesus was the Son of the living God, sent to bring all people back into right relationship with the Father.
Matthew 18:20 Why would Jesus say “where two or three come together in my name”? Christ calls us to be in fellowship with other believers. He does not ask us to go off on our own and contemplate, figure it all out alone. When we come together we can achieve our goals more easily than when we go it alone.
Matthew 28:19-20 When Jesus tells the apostles to go make disciples of all nations, he is telling them to form the church. And he is telling them what the work of the church will be: making disciples, baptizing, and teaching the Gospel.
The mission of the Church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ by proclaiming the good news of God’s grace and by exemplifying Jesus’ command to love God and neighbor, thus seeking the fulfillment of God’s reign and realm in the world.
This is the message from Jesus in Matthew? This is the GREAT COMMISSION.
The Call to Discipleship
Do you feel that you are “called” by God to be a Christian? What does that mean, to be “called”?
Think again about what Jesus asks the disciples in Matthew 16. He asks, “who do you say that I am?” The question is the call. The call from God and from Jesus to come to Him. When Peter answers, when anyone answers, “The Christ, the Son of God”, he answers the call, and Jesus claims him for his church, for his assembly.
Peter was called by a question from Jesus himself. What are other Christians called by? Great booming voices from the clouds? Maybe. What about a phone call from a friend, asking them to come to church. Could that be a call from God? Sometimes we have to look back and reflect on our calling to realize it for what it was.
So we come together in church, youth fellowship, Sunday School and Confirmation Class to learn and grow and to love and help each other. The church is an important body called into being by God Himself!
Filed under: 5 - Humanity is Loved By God
HUMANITY IS IMPORTANT TO GOD
We need to think long and hard about God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. But what about ourselves? Where do we fit into all this?
Our Place in God’s Creation
Genesis 1:1-25 We learn a lot about God’s creation in the first chapter of Genesis: the creation of night and day, of the world, of the plants and animals, and of mankind.
Notice how God loads creation with potential. The land brings forth vegetation… The waters bring forth living creatures… Let the earth bring forth living creatures. The things God makes, he gives them the ability to make more things. Creation is moving – it is going somewhere.
Also notice that each time God creates, He calls it good. Not perfect. Good. Certainly God could have made creation perfect. Why didn’t He? Think about it. God didn’t create the universe so that he could sit back and admire it. God made the world to change, to go somewhere.
Genesis 1:26 God decides to make mankind and place us right in the middle creation, this creation that is loaded with potential to go somewhere. Why? To live in God’s creation and rule over all the other living things there. To start with something good, and with His guidance, make it even better. If we follow His rules and do His will, we can guide all that potential in His creation to make the world even better.
Genesis 1:27 God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; Uh-ho, must important if it’s written twice! We’ll need to investigate that in depth shortly.
Genesis 1:31 What does God think of creation now? “Very good”. He blesses mankind by declaring that our presence has moved creation from “good” to “very good”! But still not perfect, still room for improvement.
Genesis 2:15 The Lord God put man in the garden to work it and take care of it. Creation is going somewhere, and God wants humans to “work it” and “take care of it”, to do something with it for God.
Genesis 2:19-20 God brings the animals to Adam so that he can name them. The message here is HUGE – God certainly could have named them and just told Adam what they were called. But God treats Adam as a partner. He gave Adam the animals, so Adam should have the honor of naming them.
What can we learn from this? God created humans to be partners with Him, to manage His creation and do something with it! He wants us to take creation somewhere – as if he made us and gave us this creation to see what we would do with it!
So imagine that: we were meant to be partners with God! We were meant to have a relationship with Him, working with Him to manage His creation. And He created us with the intelligence and creativity necessary to do that.
One session we have online is about sin and forgiveness where we will look at what went wrong – starting with Genesis chapter 3, when we left this partnership and struck out on our own, and how God has been calling us back ever since.
Created in the Image of God
Let’s get back to that part we skipped in Genesis 1:27. God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him.
What does that mean, that we are created in the image of God? He looks like us? But we all look different? Okay, maybe it means he’s shaped generally like us. Okay. Do we have any examples of that? Artwork – lots of you drew God that first week in the form of a person. Great artists and sculptors have done the same for years. Do we have any evidence that God is in the shape of a person? Yes we do: Jesus Christ!
There is another way to consider being created in the image of God. What does it mean to say that you look like someone? You resemble their features, or, another word, “characteristics”. So examine that word, “characteristics.” It is more than just the visual, isn’t it? It is also the kinds of things you do. Remember back in Session One we went through the Bible and listed lots of God’s characteristics. We would recognize a great number of those characteristics as gifts or abilities that people have.
| Qualities of God | Qualities of Human Beings |
|---|---|
| Creator of all | We are creative: art, music, literature, inventions |
| God cares that we are not alone | We desire and have capacity for friendship |
| God chooses to be in covenant with us | We have free will, to choose His way or our own |
| God knows the sufferings of people and saves them | We have empathy and a desire to help others |
| God knows us intimately | We form deep and meaningful relationships with each other |
| God searches for the lost and rejoices at finding | We know both deep longing and great joy |
| God is spirit | We have a soul, a spirit that is beyond our physical body |
| God is love | We have the capacity to both love and be loved |
Being created in the Image of God means we share many of the characteristics of God. When He created mankind, he gave us what is called “the spark of the divine”. Have you heard that phrase before? It means that, unlike every other living thing on earth, we have these special characteristics as part of our humanity, characteristics that come straight from and are shared with God.
Most of us do not have all of these gifts in abundance, and none of us have perfected how to use even one of them. But someone did, once. Jesus Christ was the perfection of God’s qualities in human form. If you need to know how to use your gifts in the best way possible, your guide is Jesus Christ. We should study how Jesus used gifts such as compassion, leadership, wisdom, and love, in order to use our own gifts to serve God.
Psalm 8:3-8 This reiterates what we read in Genesis 1 and 2: God placing mankind in His creation to rule over it. But look at verse 5 again. God created humans “…a little lower than the heavenly beings, and crowned [us] with glory and honor.” Is that idea new to you? That we are just a little lower than the angles? That we have been crowned by God with glory and honor? Think about how no other living thing has these characteristics – none of them. We are special, we are created in the image of God and set between Him and His creation. The gifts that we receive, gifts that reflect the characteristics of the giver, are our tools to use for His purpose.
Filed under: 4 - The Holy Spirit
Spirit of the Living God
As Christians, we believe the Holy Spirit is the person of God that guides us, leads us to faith in Jesus, and gives us the strength and self-control to lead a Christian life. The Holy Spirit is like “unseen hands” that guide and direct us in God’s way. The Spirit is active not only in our lives but also in the church and in the world.
We also believe that the Holy Spirit is God living with us. That’s not just a metaphor. Scripture repeatedly tells us that the Holy Spirit lives with us and in us. We receive gifts from the Holy Spirit, we receive strength and power, and filling our lives with the Spirit produces the fruits of a happy and abundant life. Ephesians 5:18 commands us to “Be filled with the Spirit!”
The Breath of God
The Greek word from which we get “Spirit” is the word pneuma. Another translation for pneuma is the word “breath”. So the New Testament you can literally translate the Holy Spirit as “the breath of God”. Now, remember YHWH from Session Two? The breath of God? That is a wonderful way to think of the Holy Spirit. The breath of God, perhaps whispering into your ear, perhaps gently blowing you down the path of his purpose for you.
The Holy Spirit of the Old Testament
In class we looked through the Bible at different passages about the Holy Spirit to get a better idea of just what this form of God is, what the Holy Spirit does, and how we can receive it. First, look at a few stories from the Old Testament where the Spirit is active in the world.
Genesis 1:1-2 The Spirit is with God at the very beginning of the Bible, present at the creation.
Numbers 11:25-26 The Lord came down to Moses and the 70 elders and “took of the Spirit that was on him and put the Spirit on them” and “when the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied.” So this Spirit is part of God, and God places it onto people. And upon receiving it, they perform actions guided by the Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is mentioned many times by Old Testament prophets as something that will be fulfilled. The prophets keep connecting the Holy Spirit with the coming Messiah.
Joel 2:28 God says “…I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy…” Just like in the Moses story. This was quoted by Peter on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:17-21)
Ezekiel 36:26-27 Prophesy that God will “give you a new heart and put a new Spirit in you… and I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. This adds to what we read in Joel, telling us the Spirit will be in us and move us.
Isaiah 42:1 God says “Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him and he will bring justice to the nations.” Yet another new idea, that the Spirit will be upon the Messiah.
The Holy Spirit of the Gospels
The Holy Spirit first shows up in the New Testament before even Jesus. In the first chapter of Luke, the Holy Spirit is mentioned several times. Verse 15 has the angel of the Lord declaring that John the Baptist will be “filled with the Holy Spirit from birth”. Verse 35 has Gabriel telling Mary that “The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of God will overshadow you” to conceive Jesus. In Verse 41 Elizabeth is “filled with the Holy Spirit” as her unborn son John the Baptist “leaped for joy” when Mary entered the room!
Luke 3:21-22 When Jesus is baptized the Holy Spirit descends upon him in bodily form like a dove” Fulfilling the Isaiah 42:1 prophesy that Jesus is the one in which God delights and puts the Spirit on him. And what happens next, in Luke 4:1 the Spirit leads him into the desert. So we have the Spirit dwelling in Jesus, and leading him, guiding him, or if you read Mark 1:12 NKJV, driving him.
In the Gospel of John, Jesus mentions this Spirit that has been put upon him (again, from Isaiah) and promises that the Spirit will be a Counselor sent to the disciples from God on Jesus’ behalf. Note the different qualities of the Holy Spirit that Jesus describes:
John 14:15-17 Jesus will ask the Father to send another Counselor, the Spirit of truth. The Spirit will live with you and be in you.
John 14:25-26 Jesus says the Holy Spirit will teach us all things and remind us of everything Jesus said.
John 15:26 Jesus says the Holy Spirit will testify about him.
John 16:12-15 The Spirit will guide you into all truth. Will tell you of what is yet to come, will bring glory to Jesus by making Christ known to us. The Sprit will make known to us all that belongs to the Father.
In Acts, (which we called “Acts of the Holy Spirit” in Sunday school) Jesus delivers on his promise at Pentecost. Power comes from on high! The disciples received holy boldness and they spoke in new tongues. People from faraway places understood them talkintg about the mighty acts of God in the languages that they normally spoke (the visitors from foreign lands). Peter is led to preach a powerful, Scripture based sermon and 3000 people come to the Lord taht day! Then we see ways in which the Holy Spirit empowers and guides the early church. The Holy Spirit is mentioned in Acts 57 times.
Acts 2:1-4 Tongues of fire separated and came to rest on each person, filling them with the Holy Spirit. Peter preaches from Joel 2:28-32 that this is the Holy Spirit that Jesus promised. (v. 33)
The Holy Spirit keeps falling on each new group of believers that joins the church: Jews (4:31), Samaritans (8:17), Gentiles (10:44) and John the Baptist’s disciples (19:6).
It is what Jesus promised in John 16:7 – that God actually became present in each one of them, making His activity in the world more widespread than ever before. Jesus was one man. But through the Holy Spirit, he could spread to and dwell within many.
Paul’s Teachings on The Holy Spirit
Paul’s letters discuss the Holy Spirit in detail, describing both the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the fruits of the Holy Spirit. Gifts are things given. Fruits are the qualities that the gifts produce in people who receive the Holy Spirit.
Romans 12:6-8 We have different gifts: prophesy, serving, teaching, encouraging, giving, leadership, compassion. 1 Corinthians 12:4-11 Different gifts of the spirit: wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miraculous powers, prophesy, discernment, speaking in tongues, interpreting tongues.
Galatians 5:22-23 The fruit of the Holy Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Paul is preaching that if you allow yourself to be guided by the Holy Spirit, receive it’s gifts, then you will produce these fruits and not give in to acts of the sinful nature.
The Holy Spirit in Our Lives Today
My own life changed when I considered the fruits of the Holy Spirit, and I decided that I needed those in my life. I prayed, and I spoke to God and told Him to take my life and use it to His purpose. I prayed that prayer many times, to receive His Holy Spirit and be guided to His purpose. And eventually I learned to hear the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and was filled with the Spirit to do His will and work in His mission. I learned what gifts I had been given and felt led to opportunities to use those gifts.
I believe we can all do the same thing. Give our lives to God, receive His Holy Spirit, and feel His guidance. But we have to ask for it in prayer. Repeatedly. And allow ourselves to be filled with His Spirit’s power and love!
John Wesley wrote that “God hardly gives the Spirit even to those he has established in grace if they do not pray for it on all occasions, not only once, but many times.”
Do you typically pray for guidance before you make a decision? Or do you pray for help after poor decisions have been made?
Do you think going to God first and asking for the Holy Spirit’s guidance could help you make better decisions?
Do you think that God could use you, guiding you by the Holy Spirit to help others in ways you might not understand, or in ways you could not have thought of yourself?
Consider this: God does not need you. After all, He is God. But He wants you. He wants to use you to help others, to do His will on earth. It is what we pray for every time we say the Lord’s Prayer: “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Receiving the Holy Spirit is how we become instruments of God’s will, how we become partners in doing the work of our Lord.
Assignment:
Every Christian should be able to tell the story of why Jesus came to save us and how that happens. When a friend challenges you about your faith, asks you what you believe or what the Bible is really about, will you be able to tell them the story?
Your assignment is to tell this story to your parents and mentors. If you can repeat the story from memory using the symbols we drew in class, it will help you remember and help you profess your faith. It is a story that, unfortunately, not every Christian can tell.
Filed under: 3 - Jesus is Lord!
We call ourselves Christians 
Look at the name we claim for our faith: Christian. Our religion is named after a person, Jesus Christ.
When we say we are Christians, we are saying that we follow the teachings of a man who was born and walked on the earth some 2000 years ago. We also believe that this man was the Son of God. That is like saying that Jesus is actually part of God. In fact, we claim that this man was GOD. If that is confusing, its okay – we human beings are not meant to fully understand it. But we need to understand this: God cared about us so much that he became one of us, to be with us, to show us how to live and how to be with God.
At the opening retreat we talked about how John 1:14 tells us that “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us”. John is telling us that Torah, which is the Word from God about the BEST way for human beings to live, and the ONLY way for human beings to be in relationship with God, all those things became ALIVE in Jesus Christ.
When we say we are Christians, we are saying that we “follow” Jesus Christ. That means we claim that Christ’s way is the BEST way, and that is the way we want to live. We believe other things too — that Jesus forgave our sins, saved us, and offers us eternal life — but we will cover those ideas in a future lesson. Jesus said he came to give us life “to the full” now (John 10:10), not only in heaven.
Deeper Thinking About the Life of Jesus Christ
In class Thursday night, we began looking at who Jesus was by considering what he did on earth. These stories should not be new to the confirmands – they have heard them all in Sunday school. As we transition our faith into that of an adult Christian, we took a deeper look at what the life of Christ was supposed to teach us.
Jesus’ Miraculous Birth (Luke 1:26-38; 2:1-20)
When God chose to enter into the world, he did so humbly. He did not come in as a mighty king but as a tiny baby of peasants during the difficult Roman occupation of Judea. God could have used His power to make life a lot easier on His son. But God played by the same rules He had set for humans.
There is almost no point in Jesus’ life where we can point to his circumstances and say, “My own life is harder than that.” Jesus leads us from a position of disadvantage and humility, not from power and superiority.
Jesus’ Baptism (Luke 3:15-22)
When Jesus visited John and was baptized the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” Those around John the Baptist were already looking for the Messiah, the Son of God whom the Old Testament prophets said would save God’s people from slavery and opression. Since Roman armies ruled over God’s chosen people and their land, most thought the Messiah would come as a mighty warrior with armies ready to overthrow the Romans. Obviously Jesus was not that kind of Messiah at all.
Question: If Jesus had come only to save the Jews from the Romans, would he still mean anything to people today?
Temptations (Luke 4:1-13)
After the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus, it led him into the dessert to be tempted by the devil. Got that – Jesus Christ was tempted, just like we all are. Again, God is playing by the rules. I picture Satan thinking testing God, knowing that God is really a man and therefore weak. Jesus used the Bible, the Word of God to defeat temptation. That is the idea here – following Jesus, becoming like him, does not mean the end of temptation. But it does mean we have the power to overcome temptation.
Jesus Calls the Disciples (Luke 5:1-11; 6:12-16)
Jesus chose 12 faithful Jewish men to be his disciples. Jewish rabbis chose disciples, but typically from the best of the best Hebrew students. They had Torah and much of the rest of the Old Test. memorized. Memorized!!! They were well on their way to becoming the best and brightest of their religion. But these are not the guys that Jesus chose to change the world.
Jesus chose the outsiders instead of the religious leaders of the time. As if to show us all that our own potential to do God’s work is not limited by our position on earth.
Jesus the Great Teacher (Luke 6:17-49; 18:15-17)
Taught those who had “ears to hear”. Used parables to engage people to think for themselves and make commitments to faith. He had special regard for children. He also had challenging teaching battles with religious leaders of the time.
Also, what he taught was not quite what was expected (see Messiah, above). Instead of hatred for Israel’s oppressors, the Romans, Jesus said, “Love you enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.” (Luke 6:27-28). “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” (Luke 6:31)
Jesus taught in ways that called us to him. And he taught that sin and separation from God was the real enemy, not the Romans.
His Miracles (Luke 8:26-39)
Jesus performed miracles that realized the fullness of God’s power. They were usually small and personal, caring for people (feeding the 5000), reconciling them to what God intended them to be (healing the sick).
In the gospels, Jesus performs about three dozen miracles. But the Gospels downplay the miracles frequently – many times only his closest disciples are permitted to watch (transfiguration) or Jesus asks people to say nothing. Satan tempts Jesus to perform miracles, but Jesus refuses. It is as if Jesus knows that the miracles distract from the message, and don’t produce long-term faith anyway.
Take-away: God cares for us and can make changes in all controls – nature, the course of events, etc. Jesus responded to displays of great faith.
Jesus Sends Out the Twelve (Luke 9:1-6)
Jesus gave authority to his disciples to heal and to preach the Kingdom of God.
Think about the way we pray. We often end our prayer saying “in the name of Jesus Christ.” Christians today claim the authority granted to Christ’s disciples – the authority to speak to God through Jesus.
Jesus Cleanses the Temple (Luke 19:45-46)
In Jerusalem, Jesus saw that sins were being committed in the Temple of Jerusalem, which was supposed to be God’s house. Selling animals for sacrifice, changing money, actions that are not respectful of God. Jesus drove out these dishonest people out of the Temple: “It is written, ‘My house will be a house of prayer’; but you have made it a den of robbers.”
Question: Is it okay for a Christian to be angry? What does Jesus’ example teach us about how and why a Christian can be angry?
I remember one day in Sunday school a student offered, “Jesus was never angry.” Not true. Jesus gets angry many times in the gospels. And we can be assured that he became angry at the things that made God angry. His greatest anger was reserved for those that did should have known God’s ways or pretended to, but lived and acted differently.
The Last Supper, Betrayal, and Trial (Luke 22:7-25)
Jesus shared the Passover meal with his disciples. We will talk more about what that meant in a few weeks. One of the disciples betrayed him into the hands of the Romans, who had him tried and condemned to die. The disciples, afraid for their lives, deserted him. Jesus explained to his disciples that the Old Testament prophets had foretold that this would happen, but the disciples did not yet understand.
Jesus is Alive! (Luke 24:1-49)
Jesus was buried in a cave-like tomb on a Friday. On Sunday morning, the third day, several women came to perform a ritual called “anointing the body”, but the cave was empty. Jesus appears to the women and later to the disciples, gathers them back together, re-interprets the OT scriptures for them to finally understand what has happened, and sets things in motion. The 11 men that ran and hid when Jesus was arrested now had the understanding and the inspiration necessary to change the whole world.
Jesus Ascends Into Heaven and Promises to Return (Acts 1:1-11)
Jesus appeared to his disciples on earth for 40 days, convincing them that he was alive.
He told the disciples, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
When Jesus is lifted into heaven to be with his Father, Two angles promise that Jesus will return one day in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”
Peter Confesses the Truth (Matthew 16:13-20)
13When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” 14They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” 16Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
I saved this for last because the question that Jesus asked Peter is the question that he asks all Christians to this day. Jesus challenges each and every one of us to decide who he is to us. What about you? Who do you say he is?
Filed under: 2 -- God the Father
Who is God? – We Learn from the Name of God
We learn who God is and what God means to us from looking at the Scriptures and what it says about His name.
In Biblical times people believed that a person’s name provided insight into their character – that the meaning of your name defined who you were. In Acts 4:36 we read that the name Barnabas means “Son of Encouragement” and to someone of that time, they would have understood that Barnabas must be an encouraging man. The name “Jesus” means “God saves” which certainly says a lot about who Jesus was. Notice also how many people of the Bible have their name changed when great events occur that change their character. Saul becomes Paul in Acts after he turns from persecutor to disciple. And in Genesis 17:5, God Himself changes Abram’s name to Abraham to more properly suit who he will become. So, to people of the Bible, hearing someone’s name also meant learning something about them.
In Exodus 3:13-14, Moses asks God what His name is. All the pagan gods in different towns and regions had names that described what they did – gods that made the rain or the crops grow or blessed families with children. To worship those gods, people need to know their names. But the answer that Moses got from God was different than any name he had heard before. God answered, “I am who I am.” Then, the very strange message we read in today’s Bible (NIV), God tells Moses
“This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ “
What an unusual name, I AM.
In ancient biblical texts, God’s name is spelled (translating from Hebrew to English letters) YHWH. These letters are very close in Hebrew to the verb “to be” which allows translation of God’s answer as both “I am” and “I will be”, or even, “I cause to become”. In class we discussed what this might mean – God being constant, always present, never changing. And God being and creating all things – not a god of rain or harvest, but of absolutely everything.
But consider the name YHWH again. In Hebrew and English, these letters are not pronounceable as a word – there is no vowel. But make the sounds of the letters, “yah – heh – wah – heh” and what do you hear? Nothing but your breath. That heh sound to me sounds just like inhaling. Maybe saying God’s name sounds like breathing. I love this idea – when we are breathing we are saying God’s name. Psalm 150, the very last psalm in the Book of Psalms, ends with
Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD.
Perhaps in every breath we are saying God’s name. Remember that names carry meaning? It is like God is saying through His name that He is the giver of all life. While we live, we constantly praise Him, saying His name. And when we stop saying His name, we die.
God is The One Who…
To learn more about what God is, we go to the Bible. Let us read Bible passages that described various qualities of God, looking into who He is and what He has done for us. Here are the scriptures to read and just a few of the qualities of God that we finddescribed there:
| Genesis 1:1-5 | God is creator of all |
|---|---|
| Genesis 2:18 | God cares that we are not alone |
| Genesis 17:1-7 | God chooses to be in covenant with us |
| Exodus 3:7-8 | God knows the sufferings of people and saves them |
| 1 Kings 19:11-14 | God comes to us in unexpected ways |
| Psalm 8 | God is majesty and glory |
| Psalm 139:1-14 | God knows us intimately |
| Isaiah 6:1-8 | God prepares and calls us |
| Isaiah 40:12-18 | God is incomparable |
| Hosea 11:1-9 | God has warm and tender compassion |
| Luke 15:4-7 | God searches for the lost and rejoices at finding |
| John 1:1-5, 16-18 | God will not be overcome by darkness; who gives grace upon grace |
| John 4:24 | God is spirit |
| 1 John 4:7-10 | God loves us enough to make a supreme sacrifice |
You probably found other ideas about God besides these in the text. Feel free to share them by posting your comments below (press the “Comments” link at the bottom-right of this post). There are probably no wrong answers, and God speaks to each of us differently through His Word, the Bible.
God, Our Father
In the four Gospels, Jesus refers to God as “Father” many many times. Not surprising, since we think of Jesus as the Son of God, then surely he calls God his Father. But looking at Luke 11:1-2 where the disciples ask Jesus how they should pray, Jesus tells us to call God our Father too. So this word “Father” must be worth exploring.
When Jesus called God “Father”, he frequently use the Aramaic word abba. This word means “Father”, but a more accurate translation that captures the deeper relationship expressed by abba would be the word daddy. Feel the difference between the words, the embrace of love and close relationship that is invoked when we say daddy. This is the relationship that Jesus invites us into with God. To open our hearts to Him and feel His perfect love.
Confirmands, parents, and mentors, if you have any thoughts please share them in the comments section below!
Pastor Glenn burtpc@hotmail.com
Filed under: Confirmation one
What Is Confirmation?
God’s Word is a Light For Your Path! Psalm 119:105
 |
Confirmation is
- Ownership – claiming the Christian faith as our own.
- Transition – changing our faith from that of a child’s into an adult’s faith.
- A Journey – our faith journey is not done when confirmation is over. We’re just beginning.
- Fellowship – we’re all in this together, learning from each other, sharing steps along the journey. And every one of us is a gift from God, helping us hear His voice.
- Seeking – confirmation is a safe place to ask the hard questions about faith. That is how we build a firm foundation so that our faith will not be shallow.
- Commitment – your faith cannot be given to you, and your questions cannot be answered without your effort. You can only get out of confirmation what you are willing to put into it.
Who We Are, the Way God Sees Us
We start our journey and let’s to take a look at ourselves, to see honestly who we are, so that we can approach God the way He sees us. God sees both the outside and the inside, as long as they are really us (God doesn’t see the phony stuff we put out there if that’s not really us). God knows us as we really are.
What is Faith?
We are starting on a faith journey, let’s see what faith is. Some of the concepts we get from the Bible about faith are:
- Faith is believing without proof
- Faith is assurance of things hoped for
- Faith is conviction of things not seen
- Faith is trusting in God
- Faith is confident, expectant
- Jesus frequently responded to people’s faith. See Luke 5:20, 7:50, and 8:48.
There are ”Three Dimensions of Faith”
- Belief – knowledge, faith of the head
- Trust – emotion, faith of the heart
- Commitment – action, faith of the hands and feet
Can We Really Experience God?
As Christians we believe that we can experience the living God in many ways.
- Seeing God in Everyday Events – we live most of our lives “on the surface”, kind of going through the motions. But every now and then something happens that knocks us off the surface and we go deeper. In those moments, God is at work.
- Hearing God’s Word – God can speak to us directly, but only if we listen. In our prayer life we shouldn’t do all the talking. We also have God’s word in the Bible, and God’s word became flesh and lived among us in the person of Jesus Christ.
- Seeing God in the World Around Us – we see God’s hand at work in creation. Read Psalm 8, about how God created the natural world and connected us to it.
- Feeling God’s Love – God’s love is not expected, nor deserved, nor earned by us. But He loves us perfectly.
- Meeting God Through Service – Matthew 24:34-40 tells us that when we reach out to help each other, we are encountering God.
God-Incidences
When we experience God, hear his word or feel his guidance, it is not coincidence. It is God-incidence. Sometimes we only discover them by reflecting back on what has happened to us, but when we do we can find them.
Testimony helps us remember and re-affirm the fact that we have experienced the living God, and it helps others understand what such an experience is like. In Mark 9:17-27 we read how Jesus responds to our honest attempts to find a deeper faith. And Matthew 7:7-8 promises that if we make the effort, God will answer.
Experiential Prayer
We can read stories in the Bible where people experienced God. Genesis 28:10-17, Exodus 3:1-12, and 1 Kings 19:9-13 gives us insights into the ways God reveals Himself to us and the ways we should respond.
Consider what it would be to encounter Jesus on the road to Emmaus as the two disciples did in Luke 24:13-35. Let us ask Jesus to walk with us on our journey, and may we heach feel His presence.
