Now that we’re a few months into the new year, let’s look back on what we’ve been discussing on Wednesday nights in our Teens of Faith series. Here’s a recap:
Being a “Teen of Faith.” Claiming to be saved is only the first step in being a person of faith. The faith it took for you to be saved is the same faith it takes to continue to grow in the Lord—hence, our banner says, “Saving Faith. Growing Faith.” derived from Romans 1:16-17.
Love God. Love Others. Do Right. The three main headings of this series are: love God, love others, and do right. Under each of these main headings falls several individual topics. So far, we have only discussed a few under the first heading of LOVE GOD. They are…
Love God By Lifting Him Up. According to Jesus, the whole Bible (“all the law and the prophets”) can be summed up in 2 commandments: love God and love your neighbor. Even the 10 commandments shows us this. The first 4 commandments are all about loving God by lifting Him up above all else. If we can do that, the rest of our lives falls neatly into place according to His will. (Mat. 22)
Love God Wholly. (not “woolly,” as in “woolly mammoth!”) Mark 12 includes a parallel passage to Matthew 22, but we focused more on the level of commitment we should have to Jesus as our Lord: Love God with ALL our heart, soul, mind, and strength (just like Deut. 6). Every part of our emotions, thoughts, energy—even the very core of who we are—should radiate our love for God.
Love God By Loving His House. Paul wrote lots of letters to churches, and they always seemed to focus on his passion for preaching. He saw Gospel preaching as the primary means for people to be saved and stablished (or, “stabilized”). Because churches are God’s “hub” for truth through the preaching of God’s Word, a Christian who claims to love God but hates church is lying to himself.
Love God By Loving His Word. For three weeks, we went through notes that showed us some compelling reasons why we believe the Bible is God’s Word. Piling up the mountains of evidence (even statistically) shows us we have “a more sure Word of prophecy.”
Knowing that we hold God’s thoughts in our hands, we want to understand everything in it. As a Christian who loves God, I want to hear from Him and learn to have a better relationship with Him. I can only do that from reading (and understanding!) His Word. So, the last few weeks has been a focus on the BIBS process. We read, re-read, and summarize (word, phrase, sentence, question, answer) through observation and interpretation. Then, after knowing God’s thoughts in His Word, we apply them to ourselves and make spiritual changes.
Tonight, we conclude our “Loving His Word” section by discussing a few key areas and some practical tips on how to love His Word more clearly.
-Bro. Ryan
CHOIR WORKSHOP – This Saturday – 1-3:30 pm. Anyone who wants to learn more about music can come. It is free, but if you can be involved in an offering, that would be great.