The Champions Spirit
Volume 69, Issue 4
Jan. 31, 2010
In This Issue
- The Reliability of the Bible
- Family Matters
- Jeremy’s Junction
- John’s Jogs
- Bible Readers
- All Bulletins
“The Reliability of the Bible”
Fellowship Weekend, February 6-7, 2010
Saturday Schedule
6:00 p.m. - Dinner ~ Richard Garza is cooking!
6:45 p.m. - Why Does a Reliable Bible Matter?
7:15 p.m. - Break
7:30 p.m. - Principles for Dealing with Alleged Contradictions
Sunday Schedule
9:00 a.m. - Is the Bible Reliable?
10:00 a.m. - Was Jesus Reliable?
11:30 a.m. - Pot Luck Lunch
12:45 p.m. - The Scientific Accuracy of the Bible
1:30 p.m. - Dismiss
No 6:00 p.m. Service
Eric Lyons is a graduate of Freed-Hardeman University, where he earned a B.S. with a double major in Bible and history, and an M.Min. Eric, his wife Jana, and their three children (Bo, Micah, and Shelby) live and worship in Wetumpka, Alabama, where Eric works with the youth of the Wetumpka church of Christ. He currently serves as a member of the Bible Department at Apologetics Press.
Eric has authored or co-authored a number of books, including The Anvil Rings: Answers to Alleged Bible Discrepancies (Volumes 1 & 2), Behold! The Lamb of God, and Truth Be Told. In addition, he writes weekly for the Apologetics Press Web site, is editor of the Explorer Series, and assistant editor of Discovery, the monthly magazine on Scripture and science for children published by Apologetics Press. Eric speaks frequently at youth rallies, Gospel meetings, and seminars around the country.
FAMILY MATTERS...
Guests, we are happy to have you today! Please complete one of our visitor cards and drop it into the collection tray when it is passed. Please come again.
We want to continue to honor Josie Sedillo’s request for prayers in behalf of her family. It’s an honor to pray one for another!
Your generosity has been demonstrated once again as you have given $4,902 to the victims in Haiti. These funds will be divided between “Hope for Haiti’s Children” and the “Christian Relief Fund” both of which are overseen by faithful brethren who will make sure the funds are handled wisely and the Lord is glorified.
Next weekend is our Reliability of the Bible seminar. Please help us pass the word....and....plan on being here with your family!
The annual Sweetheart Banquet is Feb. 13th at 6 p.m. in the fellowship room. Men will do the cooking once again. (A sign-up sheet is on the bulletin board.) Those who have a poem, song, or story will have an chance to share it after the meal.
We thank Glen Cox for his service as a deacon. Because of his work and other factors, he has felt it best to step down at this time. Glen and Julie (as well as their sons and others) did a great job bringing together our fellowship meals. We thank them for their hard work!
Parting Thought: If you kneel before God, you can stand before anyone!
Keep up your Bible reading!
Deuteronomy is this week!
HAVE A BLESSED WEEK!
Jeremy’s Junction
James 5:16 (NIV): Therefore, confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
As I am sure is the case for many of you, this has always been one of my go-to Bible verses. I believe that prayer is one of the most important tools that God has given us to aid us in our fight against the devil and his evil forces. Christ himself sets an example for us in the Scriptures of the vital role prayer must play in our lives. Of course, many of Christ’s prayers were not recorded in the Scriptures, but I’m so thankful for the ones that were. I love that I can read His special words of admiration, petition, and thanksgiving to His father, our Father. We are all familiar with the model prayer He gives us in Matthew 6:9-13 and Luke 11:2-4.
Other prayers that the inspired writers chose to share with us include Christ’s praise that God reveals Himself to simple, regular people in Matthew 11:25-26 and Luke 10:21; His prayer at the raising of Lazarus in John 11:41-42; His prayer in the garden of Gethsemane in Matthew 26:36-44, Mark 14:32-39, and Luke 22:46; His prayer from the cross in Matthew 27:46, Mark 15:34, and Luke 23:34,46; and His prayer as he was facing death in John12:27-28. These prayers all help us to understand more about the nature of Jesus and His relationship with God.
Probably my favorite prayer, however, is the prayer that Jesus prays in John 17. Almost a whole chapter is dedicated to Jesus’ prayer for those whom the Lord has entrusted to Him and to everyone who will believe in Him through His message. Among other things, Jesus is showing us how special the Church should be to us and how important it is for us to pray for one another. He prays for us to be brought to complete unity to let the world know that God has sent Him and has loved us as His son (paraphrase of John 17:23). To me, this passage is a beautiful picture and an inspiring call to action.
This week, many of the teenagers have applied this teaching in their daily lives. Sunday evening, Melanie Wills led our girls’ devotional. During the course of the devotional, she shared with them a frustrating situation that she was dreading at work the next day and asked for the girls’ prayers. The girls prayed for her at the devotional, and I know many of them also prayed for her that evening on their own. The next morning, I received some great news from Melanie: The frustrating situation never occurred. The prayers of several righteous teenage girls had been powerful and effective. And a powerful and effective lesson was taught to many of us as we witnessed this.
Speaking of the great teens that we have here at Champions, I’d like to point out two boys who have really looked like Jesus this past week. Tony and Elijah Brown worked very hard assisting with the decorating for the Ladies Day that we had last Saturday. Then, the following evening, they stayed to help clean up from the devotional without even having to be asked. These boys are wonderful examples of Christian servants to all of us, and we are so blessed to have them as a part of our family at Champions.
—Jeremy Geurin
John’s Jogs
BIBLE BASICS #2
Another way of considering the divisions of the Bible is through the three dispensations in which God used different methods of dealing with mankind. First is the Patriarchal Dispensation in which God dealt with mankind through the Patriarchs (father rule) i.e., Adam, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. This dispensation is covered in the book of Genesis. The second Dispensation is the Mosaic or Jewish in which God dealt with mankind through Moses and the Prophets. This dispensation is covered in the rest of the Old Testament from Exodus through Malachi and parts of the Gospels. Jesus lived and died under this dispensation. Galatians 3 points out that the purpose of the Law was to be a guardian to bring the Jewish nation to Christ. Then at Jesus’ transfiguration (Mt.17:1-6) when Moses and Elijah were there with him, Peter asked if he could build three tabernacles, one for each of them, a voice from heaven said, “This is my son...hear (or obey) Him!” Hebrews 9:15-16 says for a will or covenant to be effective there must be the death of the testator. Thus the Mosaic Law was fulfilled at the death of Jesus bringing in the Christian dispensation which is covered in the New Testament. This is the last dispensation and the one under which we live.
Genesis, in addition to being a story of the beginning, is basically the story of five families. There’s the family of Adam the first man and his wife Eve with a utopian setting in the Garden of Eden in a close association with God. By disobeying God (sin) they had to be separated from God. Thus they were driven from the Garden. But God wanted, from that point on, to redeem fallen man. Thus all the way through the Bible someone is coming to save us.
Adam and Eve had two sons, Cain and Abel. Cain killed Abel because God accepted Abel’s sacrifice and rejected his. Most everyone knows of Cain and Abel. But a third son, Seth, is more important because it is through his lineage the Messiah would come.
The fruit of “sin” from the beginning was more sin and a continuing of sin. As mankind multiplied so did the sin. Scripture says “that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The Lord grieved that he had made man....So the Lord said, “I will wipe mankind...from the face of the earth.” “But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.”
So God told Noah to make an ark to save him and his three sons and all their wives for He was going to destroy all mankind with a flood because of their wickedness. Noah and his sons labored 120 years building the ark and telling people of the coming flood. After the flood God told them to increase in number and fill the earth. But like human nature it’s not long until again sin permeates them. Instead of obeying God they decide to build a tower to the heavens to make a name for themselves. God confused their languages. Hence “The Tower of Babel” caused them to spread out to cover the earth as God intended.
—John Qualls
Next week: The other Genesis families.