Monday, March 31, 2014

Recap of 11th & 12th Grade DGroup 3/30/14


I still encourage everyone to go see "God's Not Dead" before it leaves theaters. If you can tell me what arguments Josh uses for the existence of God that we have studied in the 11th and 12th grade DGroups and bring me your ticket stub, I will give you a $5 gift card to the place of your choice! 

Don’t forget to invite your friends (skeptics, agnostic, atheist, believer) to this Sunday night’s special simulcast The Case for Easter with Lee Strobel. You will learn historical evidence and proof of Jesus’ resurrection—without which our faith is pointless. The presenters will examine medical evidence, the evidence of the missing body and the evidence of appearances. You will also most likely learn about the “minimal facts” argument for the resurrection. This is evidence that is so good that even skeptical scholars are convinced by it. 1) Jesus was killed by crucifixion 2) Jesus’ disciples believed that he rose and appeared to them. 3) The conversion of the church persecutor Paul 4) The conversion of the skeptic James, Jesus’ half-brother 5) Jesus’ tomb was empty.

This week in DGroups we talked about the reliability and accuracy of the New Testament (NT).

Remember that the NT is 27 separate writings written on scrolls by 9 different writers over a 20-50 year period. We have none of the original documents. We have copies of originals called manuscripts. But that is not a problem. All ancient literature is reconstructed into its original by comparing surviving manuscripts. The NT blows other ancient literature away in this regard. We have MORE manuscripts, EARLIER manuscripts and more abundantly SUPPORTED manuscripts than other writings of antiquity.

Here is a "RECIPE" for evidence for confidence in the NT:

R-Reliable reconstruction (when we compare all the copies we have extremely reliable reconstruction)

E-Early manuscripts (copies were written soon after the originals--25 years, next closest ancient text was 500 years.)

C-Copious copies (5,300 Greek manuscripts, 10,000 Latin manuscripts of entire NT and 9,300 portions of the NT = over 24,000 manuscripts.)

I-Independent non-Christian writers affirm it (10 known non-Christian writers mention Jesus within 150 years of his death. Including the greatest Jewish historian Josephus.)

P-Powerful percentages (of accuracy compared to other ancient texts; 99.5% accurate; .05% in question does not affect doctrine.)

E-Erroneous errors  (the "errors" sited are multiplied by the number of manuscripts so the number of "errors" are inflated and are just grammatical variants.)

S-Supported manuscripts (the early church fathers quoted from the NT so many times in their second and third centuries writings that you could read most of the NT just from their quotations.)

We also know that we have tons of eyewitness accounts in the NT and Luke himself records 84 facts in the last 16 chapters of Acts that have been confirmed by historical and archeological research. Overall 140+ eyewitness details and citing of at least 30 historical figures in the NT attest to its accuracy. The testimony we have is early, eyewitness and at times embarrassing (meaning, the writers include stuff they would not have made up because it’s embarrassing to themselves.)

So when people say “The Bible is full of errors because it’s been copied so many times” you can say with confidence that their statement is false and share with them the truth.

“There is no body of ancient literature in the world which enjoys such a wealth of good textual attestation as the New Testament.” F.F. Bruce, Distinguished Scholar on the life of Paul, former President of the Society for Old Testament Study as well as the Society for New Testament Study.

Sunday, March 30, 2014

WNY 3-26

Well, here is the audio from this past WNY, however, like many things, WNY is best enjoyed live, so why don't you join us for WNY THIS WEDNESDAY, April 4th, for fun, friends, and teaching.

Enjoy the audio!!


WNY 3-12

Finally, here is the post with the audio from the March 12th Wednesday Night Youth.

Enjoy!!




Tuesday, March 25, 2014


Youth parents and students have a unique opportunity this week—and maybe this week only. There is a movie in theaters that I highly encourage you to attend. It’s recommended for ages 12 and up. It’s called “God’s Not Dead.” You can read all about it at their website. But one of the many reasons I encourage you to see it, in the theaters, is because you will see a college freshman use apologetics, what we’ve been studying in D Groups, in his defense of God’s existence before his atheist philosophy professor and the entire class. He will use many of the arguments we have been, and will be, studying this semester. You will be encouraged and emboldened. Please see this movie.

 The character “Josh” explores the cosmological argument (the beginning of the universe), objective truth, logical fallacies and the moral law which we discussed this week.

 We are now entering our fourth key evidence for the existence of the theistic God. We’ve explored the beginning of the universe (from which we learned that God is self-existent, timeless, non-spatial, immaterial, infinite, powerful and personal), the design of the universe and life (from which we learned that God is supremely intelligent and purposeful) and now we are exploring the moral law (from which we will learn that he is absolutely morally pure and unchangeable).

 This is how the Moral Law is stated:
1.      Every law has a law-giver.
2.      There is an objective Moral Law.
3.      Therefore, there is a Moral Law-giver.
The Moral law is self-evident and universal.

We explored how without an objective moral standard that life is meaningless and there’s nothing absolutely right or wrong. Everything is a matter of opinion/personal preference. We discussed how without the moral law there’s no difference between the behavior of Mother Teresa and Hitler. Atheists get themselves in a bind when they claim certain rights and causes. Without the Moral Law there is no moral ground from which they can argue. There’s nothing objective grounding right and wrong, for and against. People suppress the moral law in order to justify what they want to do. “…while (atheists) may believe in an objective right and wrong, they have no way to justify such a belief (unless they admit a Moral Law Giver, at which point they cease being atheists).”

 The type of God which we’ve shown to exist is what is called a theistic God and that God is consistent with the God of the Bible. We’ve used natural or general revelation to discover him—not the Bible. Of the major world religions only theistic religions can be true and only one of those can be true. It makes sense that the God we’ve described would choose to communicate further with us, in addition to creation and conscience. How? That turns us to examining the books of the theistic religions and deciding whose is really God’s message which he alone can authenticate. One way he could do that is through miracles.

 A miracle is defined in our text as a special act of God that interrupts the normal course of events. A miracle is an act of God to confirm the word of God through a messenger of God. We defined six different kinds of unusual events--only one of which is a miracle (anomalies, magic, psychosomatic, satanic signs, providence and miracles). Criteria for miracles are instantaneous power, intelligent design and morality. There are 250 occasions of miracles in the Bible most of which occur during three distinct time periods (lifetimes of Moses, Elijah and Elisha and Jesus and the apostles). These are the times God was confirming new truth (revelation) and new messengers with that truth.

Next we will begin exploring if God has used miracles to confirm one of the three major theistic religions.

Don’t forget to see the movie. If you want more resources other than on the movie’s website, you can also see www.ratiochristi.org/gnd.

(All this information is taken from “I Don’t Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist” by Norman Geisler and Frank Turek.)

Monday, March 10, 2014


 Recap of 11th & 12th Grade DGroup 3/9/14
In our study of “I Don’t Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist” we are into the third of the twelve point outline. We have covered 1) that truth about reality is knowable and 2) that the opposite of true is false.

We are now in 3) it is true that the theistic God exists and that is evidenced by three major arguments. We have covered the Cosmological Argument (the beginning of the universe) and are now discussing the Teleological Argument/Anthropic Principle which covers the design of the universe and the design of life. We discussed that by simply observing our world, we see evidence for design. Every design had a designer. The universe has a highly complex design. In fact, the universe is tuned just so to support life on Earth. Some of the “universal constants” at work are so precise that they defy a chance explanation: 1) oxygen level 2) atmospheric transparency 3) moon-earth gravitational interaction 4) carbon dioxide level 5) gravity. These point to the universe having a designer.

We then talked about the two types of causes (natural and intelligent) and whether or not they could create first life. We learned that Darwinists, Atheists, Humanists, Materialists and Natural Evolutionists all believe that life itself is a product of mindless natural laws. They claim that a one-celled amoeba came together by spontaneous generation and that all biological life evolved from that without intelligent guidance. Yet, with the discovery of DNA, we further see the complexity of life and the specific messaging found in genetic coding. We discussed the Principle of Uniformity stating that causes in the past were like the causes we observe today. Yet spontaneous generation of life has never been observed.

Here are two very important quotes to remember from the book:

“The creation-evolution debate is not about religion versus science or the Bible versus science—it’s about good science versus bad science. Likewise, it’s not about faith versus reason—it’s aboutreasonable faith versus unreasonable faith.”

We also learned that “chance” is not a cause. “Chance is a word that we use to describe mathematical possibilities. It has no power of its own. Chance is nothing…We shouldn’t allow atheists to cover their ignorance with the word “chance.” “Chance” is just another example of the bad science practiced by Darwinists.”

Julie Loos
Assistant to the President;
Director of Prayer & Women's Outreach
636-237-8931
Defending Truth & Christianity at the University
Ratio Christi is a global movement that equips university students and faculty to give historical, philosophical, and scientific reasons for following Jesus Christ.

Sunday, March 9, 2014

WNY 3-5

So even though the high schoolers were off at Helping Hands for Serve First, the middle schoolers were still able to hear a message. This one was from Ryan, and is posted below.

Enjoy!


Monday, March 3, 2014

Day of Fasting & Prayer


Day of Fasting & Prayer
March 8 -9, 2014
6:00 AM -- 6:00 AM

 “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
Jeremiah 29:11 

“ If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”
2 Chronicles 7:14 

Guidelines
·       Everyone is encouraged to pick an hour between 6:00 AM, Saturday morning, March 8 and 6:00 AM Sunday morning, March 9 to pray for our church and its leadership during our transition between senior pastors.
·       You may pray as individuals, as a family, or as an ABF or other group.
·       The primary purpose of the Day of Fasting & Prayer is to pray for our Senior Pastor Search Committee, ALT, Deacons, Staff, and Support Staff. A list of the people serving in these capacities is attached.
·       You may use the prayer guide on the opposite side of this page and/or the prayer list from your ABF.  A prayer guide for the Guatemala mission trip is attached.
·       In addition, February 27 was the national Collegiate Day of Prayer.  A list of our college students and their respective campus is attached
·       The church auditorium will be available for prayer from 6:00 AM – 6:00 PM on Saturday, March 8.  A deacon will be available for security and assistance.
·       We are defining fasting as a liquid diet during our 24 hour prayer vigil.  You are not being asked to fast, if you have physical issues that are not conducive.

Prayer For:
Senior Pastor Search Committee
ALT, Deacons, & Other Church Leadership
Church Staff & Support Staff
College Students and their Colleges
Guatemala Mission Team and Trip
Un-churched Friends, Relatives, Work Associates, and Neighbors (FRAN’s)
Military Personnel & Families
Church Families
Student and Children/Preschool Ministries
Adult Bible Fellowships and Sunday School
Church Ministries and Ministry Teams
Our Missionaries and Mission Trips & Activities
Governmental Leaders: Community, State, and Nation
 
Church Leadership
ALT
Craig Beike
Myra Lamb
Julie Loos
Mack McCarthy
Becky Pool
John Reynolds
Dan Rogers
Paula Shelden
Steve Tucker
Dick Weeks
 
Deacons
Dan Bullock
Gary Christenson
Ken Fisher
Jim Gallaher
Jim Hall
Jack Jackson
Fred James
David Jenkins
Vince Knipp
Larry Konneman
Mack McCarthy
Louis Miller
J.B. Peterson
Wayne Reidenbach
Doug Rohrer
John Shelden
John Smith
Dick Weeks
 
Staff
Bob Werner – Interim Pastor
Russ Ewing – Education/Administration
Melissa White – Interim Worship Leader
Debbie Tucker – Interim Student Director
Brian Tachick - Youth Intern
Megan Ondr - Youth Intern
Sharon Ferrell – Interim Younger Director
Judy West – Interim Older Children’s Director
 
Support Staff
Glenda Miller
Pat Stroud
Jan Sullivan
Vicki Williams
Jaci Davidson
Dave Mulvaney
Bobby King
Terry Ellis
Steve Durst
 
Senior Pastor Search Committee
Larry Konneman – Chairman
Lance Leonard – Vice Chairman
John Shelden – Secretary
Bill Belmar
Terry Coleman
Jim Gallaher
David Klein
John Reynolds – Ex-Officio
Doug Rohrer – Ex-Officio
 
 
College Students
University of Missouri - Columbia
Alex Knipp
Allie Davis
Rachel Raines
Andrew Tucker

Missouri Baptist University
Ashley Reese
Courtney Knipp
Ethan Brunk
Leah White
Stuart Slates
Nick Price

Missouri State University
David Armstrong
Bethany Fisher
Rob Lowery

St. Louis Community College - Wildwood
Ami Dauster

Alex Knipp
Allie Davis
Rachel Raines
Andrew Tucker

Missouri Baptist University
Ashley Reese
Courtney Knipp
Ethan Brunk
Leah White
Stuart Slates
Nick Price

Missouri State University
David Armstrong
Bethany Fisher
Rob Lowery

St. Louis Community College - Wildwood
Ami Dauster
Brittany Knipp
Jesse McKenzie
Lindsey Durst

St. Louis Community College - Meramec
Leigh Anne Pool

University of Alabama
Matthew Tucker
Derek Legenzoff

Lindenwood University
Florent Sevrin

University of Notre Dame
Hannah Bliss

Baylor University
Jordan Klein
Boyce College
Katie Hufstedler

Logan University
Kevin Powell

Truman State University
Martin Sevrin
Maryville University
Ryan Beike

Saint Louis University
Megan Ondr

Murray State University
Thomas Pool

Missouri University of Science and Technology
Will Loos
Andrew Lakey

University of Evansville
Wyatt Brunk

Taylor University

Kevin Powell

Truman State University
Martin Sevrin
Maryville University
Ryan Beike

Saint Louis University
Megan Ondr

Murray State University
Thomas Pool

Missouri University of Science and Technology
Will Loos
Andrew Lakey

University of Evansville
Wyatt Brunk

Taylor University
Sierra Matthews

Southeast Missouri State University
Davis Wright

 
University of Arkansas
Kayla Mendoza