Galatians

hey everyone,

okay, so I was going through Galatians and I felt like God was speaking to me through the text on the idea that it is only Him that can save... now I kept thinking we've all heard this beofre (and if you think this is just too tired, let me know), but I felt like he was confronting our culture (merit, rewards, purchasing, etc)

So, I felt like reiterating it in this light was where God wanted me to take it. Let me know what you think

Galatians

I. The text Gal 2.17-21
II. Judaizers
a. Judaizers – Faith in God is not enough, must do things
III. What good is the law?
a. Law reveals sin, but does not clear it from us.
b. Law is good, but it can’t save
IV. Paul’s response to that
a. if somehow the law and the rules could save, Christ died for nothing
b. Rather God’s power is enough
c. Do you believe that?
V. “Laws of our world”
a. Judaizers proposal and its implications makes sense in our world
i. Do culture, merit culture, rewards culture
ii. I’m a good person
iii. And now people say, “I’m a good person”. But that lacks certainty. Any sin is enough (one blemish). I’d like to know where the stick is
b. Value of faith in God vs value in the praise and honor in this world
VI. Our response
a. Value of faith in God vs value in the praise and honor in this world
b. What we do is not enough
i. By acknowledging God and accepting Christ, you are readily saying, what I have been doing is not enough
c. How do you think about yourself and living your life (merit/law or grace)
d. But now with Christ, what you have and what you do is enough.
i. God’s power is enough
e. Live like Christ, his power, Called to be like Christ, that is what we do, Christ is the principle, not the law, conduct of life can be determined by Christ, whose life we live. (Gal 4?)
i. Confusion of Pistin theou (Faith of Christ or Faith in Christ… or both??)
f. All action must be in line with the gospel


Gal 2.17-21
17 “If, while we seek to be justified in Christ, it becomes evident that we ourselves are sinners, does that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not! 18 If I rebuild what I destroyed, I prove that I am a lawbreaker. 19 For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21 I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”a


Focus: If salvation could be earned or gained by things, Christ died for nothing
Fuction: To affirm to the youth that there is nothing that we can do apart from God to gain life, but it is instead God who saves

2 Corinthians

Hey guys. Here's my outline for Friday. It's pretty barebones right now. I had a few other passages that stuck out, but this is the one that I settled in on.

Looking at the whole of 2 Corinthians, what we see is Paul's heart, which is shown to be heavenward. I think we easily can get caught up in this world. We get comfortable and seek earthly riches. We too easily forget though that this is not our home, but our home is in heaven--to one day be with the Lord in perfection. Culture very much says that its all about now. I think our kids generally think this as well. They are so focused on all the things they have to do now that they forget about our ultimate prize--eternity with God.

My purpose isn't to bash the here and now on earth, but it's to show that our ultimate investment isn't here, but in heaven. So to put it more simply, the purpose is to show that our hearts belong to heaven.

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I. INTRODUCTION

• A Look At Paul's Heart

II. BODY

A. The Temporality of Earth (v1)

• Tent vs. House

B. The Insufficiency of Earth (v2)

C. The Sureness of Heaven (v3)

D. The Anticipation of Heaven (v4)

• Groaning, Burden and Nakedness on Earth
• Desire to Be Elsewhere

E. The Providence of God (v5)

• God Has Made Us With Purpose
• God Has Given Us The Spirit

III. CONCLUSION

• Longing For Heaven

1 Corinthians: Power and Love

Hey guys,

okay, here's the first draft outline for Friday's message. I wanted to focus on power is important in the Corinthian church and todays world and how God's wisdom is better than all of that. We live in a society based on trying to acquire power, yet God's power is based in weakness and love


I. The Wisdom of God is Greater than the Wisdom of the World
a. Story: Oscur Muriu – Coming of Christ (what would the world want in a savior)
i. Apocrypha (a la Brandon)
b. 1 Cor 1.18-31 – Wisdom of God (and weakness vs power)
i. Corinthian Christians – divisions in favor of people (Paul, Cephas) – power of men,
ii. Greeks – multiple Gods
1. Power and status (honor culture – competition for power)
iii. Christ
1. God and the Incarnation and the cross, from weakness, we place ourselves down in favor of everyone as well
iv. Our World: Place yourself above others, your needs, etc, power to control yourself, multiple gods, what’s good for you and what’s good for me
v. God: Wisdom of incarnation, living amongst, from weakness, commitment
vi. Where do you put your authority
vii. Application: Who you look up to, what you look up to. What to do if you have power
1. We do have power (American, money, etc)
2. Use for good
II. Application: Wisdom in Love (1 Co 13)
a. Love in Our culture – based on the self, happily ever after, magic, romance,
b. Love can also be abused. Not Real love
c. Love according to Christ
i. Eucharist example – not showing love
1. Community
2. Everyone for yourself attitude in Corith
a. Everyone for yourself attitude here
b. Money
3. Christianity is different
III. Choose What is Great
a. Pouncer (choosing what is less)
b. Where do you put your authority and how will you love?

Focus: God’s Wisdom is better than the Wisdom of the World
Function: To Encourage the youth to consider how they view their lives. Specifically, how power and status often work in the world and how instead love must be the key.

1 Corinthians

Hey guys... I'm still a little unsure about what this message will look like, but I wanted to give you a sense of what I'll be talking about, and I'm interested to hear your feedback.

The topic of this message in the simplest sense is sex/sexual immorality. Obviously it's kind of a touchy subject, but I think it's something that we should address from time to time. It's also an important theme in 1 Corinthians.

Here's what I have so far:

Intro: The danger of culture - influence of Corinthian culture on the church, similarities with American culture - moral relativism

a. Corinthian attitude: the soul is saved, but the body perishes, so what I do with my body doesn't matter. THis allows for sexual indulgence based on the belief that it has no bearing on one's spiritual state. The bottom line is that they believed that what I do with my body isn't a big deal.

b. Our attitude: different from the Corinthians, but similar bottom line: not that big of a deal. We live in a culture that says that sex is no big deal. Our culture says that sex is fun and a good way for two people to express their affection for one another. It doesn't have to be that big of a deal.

Main text: 1 Corinthians 6:12-20

I don't want to dive too deeply into the resurrection of the body. But I want to make a couple things very clear:

1. You will never find what you are looking for in sexual sin. The body was meant to be united with Christ and with one's partner in marriage. Anything short of that will bring about pain and problems. (I also might touch on the idea that sex is better when you wait for marriage, but we'll see)

Culture associates sex with love, so people often go looking for love through sex. At the core of sexual sin is a desire to be loved, especially for girls.

2. Sex is an act of selfishness. It's seeking after pleasure at the expense of God and brothers and sisters. Paul makes this point clearly: "you are not your own." Your body belongs to God and sexual sin is a slap in the face. Further, you are a part of the body of Christ, and your sin affects the rest of the body, whether you like it or not.

3. Sex is a sin against oneself. Sex is unique not because it is worse than other sins, but it affects us in a different way. It damages our capacity to be a temple of the Holy Spirit. It weakens the Spirit's impact on our live. Often you see that people who sin sexually are more likely to turn away from God and the church than people who struggle with other sins. Sexual sin cuts us off from the Spirit - we struggle more with guilt, and we struggle more to connect with God. That's not a coincidence.


The bottom line is: sex matters. It's not "no big deal." Don't buy into the cultural idea that sex is an acceptable and normal form of expression. Sex is important. It's important to God and it's important to your future spouse. When you make the choice to be abstinent, you honor God, your future spouse, your brothers and sisters in Christ, and yourself.