Tag Archives: Christianity

11.26.12
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Free Lesson on Justification with video and teaching script

Below is a free lesson that Mark Etheridge is giving away free on his blog. You need to check this out:

One thing I really enjoy about blogging is the fact that I can give away FREE stuff! So, here’s a free resource that I have put together. It is a lesson on justification, one of the most vital parts of our faith as Christians. God’s been teaching me a lot about this subject, and how important it is for me as someone who believes in Jesus. The audience this was originally written for is college students, however, I believe it can be adapted to any age group. This resource contains several different parts that may help you in studying and teaching on this subject:

1. Teaching Script: I have included an entire teaching script based on my personal study of this subject. It is in a Microsoft Word document so please change and tailor in whatever way you see fit. It is broken down verse-by-verse with explanatory comments and it also includes quotes by scholars and illustrations.

2. Visual Presentation: I have made a PowerPoint presentation to go along with this lesson. It includes all of the text verses, scholarly quotes, an illustrative picture, and cross-referenced passages. This presentation also has editing capabilities where you can edit/change to fit your personal presentation. I have also included a JPEG image of the opening slide so you can use it as you please (printing a flyer, making a handout, exc.).

3. Video Interview: I have included a clip of an interview with R.C. Sproul and Mark Driscoll discussing the topic of justification. The leadership blog The Resurgence has produced this video and it gives some insight as to how important biblical justification really is for us today.

I hope this resource is a help to you, and that you will benefit from whatever avenue you choose to use this in, whether it’s for teaching in a college ministry, student ministry, church service, or for your own personal growth. I want to help you and serve you. You can download this FREEBIE below:

Download the freebie here!

10.27.12
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Bible Study- God the Father

Throughout life, we as Christians refer to God as our Father. Have you ever wondered, what does that mean? How does that work? Does God act like our earthly father? Well, in some cases, He does, but not completely. Let’s look throughout Scripture, and see what the Bible says about how God operates as our Father, and how this should look in our life! First, here is a quick definition of “our heavenly father:”

Heavenly Father: The relationship of God to those who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ as Savior thereby being born anew into His family.

1.   Our Heavenly Father is above all- Ephesians 4:6. When I was growing up, I had a very strict home. I was constantly under watch and supervision by my parents for when to be home and where I was at. I would get upset about that, but at the end of the day, I had to realize and learn that they had that authority over me as my parents. The same is true about our Heavenly Father. He has that authority over us, because He is God. He has authority over you. Here are some verses that show how and what He has authority over in our lives:

Isaiah 64:8 says, “But now, O LORD, thou art our Father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.” God has the authority to shape me however He desires. He has authority to create me in His image. As clay, we are in complete and total subjection unto the authority and will of our Father. He can decide what the clay will be.

Jeremiah 3:4 says, “Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me, My father, thou art the guide of my youth.” God has the authority to guide me where He wants me. If you think of a card driver and his vehicle. The driver has control over what direction the car is heading. The car does not randomly decide where it will be going. The driver decides which direction it wants to go, and the vehicle is in subjection to the driver. It is the same way with God. He is in control of our lives. Sometimes, the road is bumpy, sometimes the road is curvy, and difficult, but God is the driver. We must let Him guide and direct us.

Matthew 12:50 says, “For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in Heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.” God has the authority to expect my obedience! John 14:15 says, “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” Our obedience is an indicator of our love for God. He has the authority to expect complete obedience from you toward His Word.

Hebrews 12:7-11. God has the authority to correct me. To Chasten means: To punish, chastise, or rebuke with words in order to correct or mold the character of others. I have a 15 month old daughter. She is in a fit stage right now, and I have to correct her when she throws a fit by disciplining her. We all need to be corrected from time to time. The chastisement of our Heavenly Father is always for our good!

2.   Our Heavenly Father works through all His children- Ephesians 4:6

God desires to work through us as His children. The word, “through” here in verse 6 conveys the idea of acting as a channel for something to be done. You watch different genres of television on different stations. They do different things, and the message of the directors of the channel’s gets out to the world. We are God’s channels. He desires to work through us to get His message out. You have gifts, and His desire is for you to be used by Him, and for Him to work through you to get His message out.

3.   Our Heavenly Father is in us- Ephesians 4:6

God desires a close relationship with us! As my daughter grows up, I want a relationship with her! This requires communication as she gets older. You see Adam and Eve had a relationship with God in the Garden. They walked and talked with God. Then, they sinned, and that hurt and hindered their relationship with God. God still desired for that relationship to happen though. So, God made a way for us to have a relationship! He sent His Son, Jesus, to pay the penalty for our sin so that our sin could be wiped away! It could be forgiven. Why? So that our relationship could be restored! Now, because of Jesus, we can enjoy a relationship with God. What is cool about this relationship is that we do nothing to achieve it; it has already been achieved by Jesus. It has already been done! All you have to do is accept Him.

Who is your Father? Is God your Father? As a Christian, God has the authority over you, and is worthy of your obedience.

If God is not your Father, you are missing out on the greatest relationship you can ever experience. 

10.18.12
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Our Works VS. Christ Work

One thing that has been on my mind recently has been the thought about “our works vs. Christ work.” I have been challenged in my personal relationship with Jesus to focus more on the work that Jesus has done for me, and not on the work that I am trying to do. In our Christian culture, many people would say that we are not saved by works, but we treat believers in many cases that we are kept by our works. That is just not the case, Jesus keeps us, and has already completed the work for us! Now, I am not suggesting that you now have liberty to live anyway that you would like. I believe that we have liberty, but it is a liberty and freedom to break the chains of sin through the work that Jesus did on the cross. My challenge to you today is not to try harder, and do better, but to look at the one who won the victory for you. If we get a solid glimpse of Him, our life will be right, and righteousness will come, because we are focusing on Jesus and His righteousness in us rather than the righteousness that we “try” to muster up on our own! By the way, the Bible describes the good things that you do in and of yourself as filthy rags! So, let’s stop trying to work harder and do better, and focus on Jesus, and get our eyes on Him. Then, right living will be a byproduct of a relationship with Jesus and personal work of Jesus! in our lives. Remember, Jesus loves and accepts you right now regardless of where you are. Nothing we do will make Him love us less! Grasp that thought, and it can change your life.

09.05.12
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Bible Study: Authentic Christianity

I John 3:1-10

This passage shows that when you grasp the love of Christ for you, it changes your identity, and compels you to live differently. Fundamentally when you become a child of God, your relationship and practice of sin changes! You now because of Jesus have the power over sin, and the ability to live a righteous life. What John is saying here is that if you are truly born of God, you will live a life that reflects true righteousness, the same righteousness you find in Jesus Christ. There will be an outward evidence in your actions of an inward transformation in your heart. It will be authentic, not counterfeit. I want to give you a few thoughts tonight on authentic Christianity:

        I.            Authentic Christianity is born of God V. 29, 9

  1. Mark the word, born in verses 29 of chapter 2, and verse 9 of chapter 3. In our fallen human nature, we have a bent toward self-righteousness. We have an attitude or belief embedded in us that if we do good, we will be accepted by God and others.
  2. Cain had the idea if he does and brings this sacrifice then God would accept Him.
  3. The righteousness mentioned here is born of God, not man. God’s righteousness and acceptance of you depends solely on Him, not you. He already loves and imputes righteousness into your life at Salvation.
  4. Romans 4:22 says “And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness.”
  5. John is saying that it is impossible to produce born again righteousness in your nature. What you need is something or in this case someone outside of you to come into your life and fundamentally change you at the core of who you are so then you can be righteous.
  6. It is not, “I am going to do right, then I will be a child of God.” It is “If you become a child of God, you will do right.”
  7. It is impossible for you to produce this righteousness until you have been born again. If this was not true, Jesus would not have told the most religious man he spoke with, Nicodemus, to be born again.

      II.            Authentic Christianity is motivated by God’s love for mankind V. 1

Not only does authentic Christianity come from God, it is motivated by the love of God for us. It is embedded into you and I to have this “If you do this for me, I will do this for you” mentality. It is an idea of self-righteousness that comes with the fallen nature that we all are born with. This idea of self-righteousness has the idea of “Look at me” or “I am better than you.” This is self-righteousness. Born again righteousness is where we now look at our lives not based upon how good we think we are, but based on how good God is. It changes the perspective to be on God, and not on ourselves. Born again righteousness always looks at the cross where Christ demonstrated His great love for us Romans 5:8

I have a daughter named Lynlee. She is now 14 months old, and she is my sweetheart! I love her so much. Sometimes (if you have kids, you know what I mean), she has some really bad days. She fusses and is cranky. Now, if my love was conditional, I would love her based on how she acts and behaves. The problem is that my love is unconditional. I love her regardless of how she acts. This is how God looks at you and I. His love is already there. His love is not dependent on your actions. My desire is for my daughter not to perform to receive my love, but perform because of my love. I want her to be so in love with her daddy that she desires to do right because of that. You see, nothing can make God love you more or less. When you come in contact with that love, it moves you to righteousness.It is only through the love of Jesus that you can begin to live a righteous life.

    III.            Authentic Christianity looks radically different from the world

As you experience the righteousness of Jesus, your life will begin to look radically different from it was before Christ. Someone who is born of God will look different from someone who is not born of God. Why? Because of born again righteousness. This kind of righteousness is more than good living or morality. You remember when you were saved? Your life began to change. Look at the word, seed in verse 9. I want you to think of an actual seed. If I was to bring a bunch of different vegetable seeds into my office, and claimed that I would put them in a box and in 6 months expect vegetables, I would be crazy. The seed is still there, but there is no fruit. Why? Because in the seed lies the potential and power of the fruit. It is by the seed that we have our fruit. The seed is the Word of God. The seed is the Spirit of God. Inside of every one of you lies the seed of potential and power of Almighty God, but it has to be watered, it has to be planted, and it has to be cultivated. You say, what do you mean? Do you want to live out Christ’ righteousness? Get in the Word of God! Get in church where the Bible is preached. Get in a Bible fellowship program where the Bible is used. Get involved in service, act out the Christian principles and disciplines.

Is there evidence that there is the life of God in you?

06.14.12
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The Point of Christianity

Paul had enough morality to keep him out of trouble, but not enough righteousness to get him into Heaven. He was a Pharisee and knew the Law as much as anyone. Paul seemed fine outwardly, but there was nothing inwardly.

“Don’t fall in love with the performance or the practice of Christianity, but fall in love with the person of Christianity!”

The aim of Paul’s life was to know Christ. This was his ultimate desire. This was more important to him than any other thing in his life. He literally felt that if he did not know God in an intimate way, he failed as a believer. Let’s look at the phrase, knowing God. The word, “know” is a very powerful word. It is the most powerful form of the word know that we have in Scripture. It is an intimate word used for strongly knowing someone. It is way more than just acquiring knowledge about a person.

I love sports. I enjoy Duke basketball, and I hope that this does not affect you exiting this blog post. Do not hold it against me. I know a lot about the players at Duke. I keep up with our recruits in high school, and when they arrive on campus, I already know quite a bit about the players. Now, I know a lot about them, but I do not know them personally. If I was out in Durham, and saw a Duke player, they would not have a clue who I am. I am afraid that many “Christians” claim to know a lot about God, but do not know God personally.

You say, how do I know God? In John 14, Philip asked Christ, “Shew us the father, and it sufficeth us.” Jesus answered, “Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not know me, Philip? He that hath seen me hath seen the Father.” He is revealed to us, and is there for us. Some of us have been saved for a long time, and I believe God is saying, have I been so long with you, and you still don’t even know me.

John 17:3, Jesus says, “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.”

Do you really know God?

Did you know that God desires to make your life His dwelling place?

I believe I have failed as a youth pastor if I do not teach you the importance of a personal daily walk with God.

  1. You experience the power of Christ- Philippians 3:10 says, “That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection.” The word, “power” comes from Greek word, dunamis. It is an intrinsic power or inherent ability. It is the strongest power possible in the entire world. Do you remember the story of the 3 Hebrew children thrown into the prison. They had boldness and confidence that was in a much higher power. They refused and the Lord delivered them. Daniel 11:32 says, “The people that know their God shall be strong.” Maybe the reason you are not strong is you really do not know God. If you know God the way Paul desired to know God, you will experience the power of Christ. “Trusting Him is not the secret to knowing Him, but knowing Him is the secret to trusting Him.”
  2. You will experience God’s presence- V. 10. Philippians 3:10: the fellowship of His sufferings. “We love God because He first loved us.” Before you ever thought about God, He thought about you. You did not get up one day, and say, I am going to be friends with God. He came to you, and made a way through Jesus Christ that you can now enter into a relationship with Him and experience His presence. Hebrews 4:16 says, “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace.” Through the priesthood of the believer, we can have access to the God of Heaven anytime that we need Him. The power mentioned in verse 10 is a good exciting thing, but the suffering is not as exciting. When you sign up for knowing God, expect to suffer more than ever before. C.S. Lewis said, “God whispers to you in your pleasure, but shouts to you in your pain!”
  3. You will experience God’s passions. The word, “conformable” means to make of like form with another person. Paul’s desire was that his heart and God’s heart would be knit together. If you begin to gain your desire to know God and make this your life ambition and goal, you will become more and more like Him. As you become like Him, your passion will be His passion. His passion was people. Knowing God changes your priorities and desires to His priorities and His desires!
[Question]: Do you know God personally, or do you just know a lot of facts about God?
04.25.12
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Bible Study: The Truths about Hell

Luke 16:19-31

This is one of Jesus’s most popular parables. It is the story of the Rich Man and Lazarus. Lazarus was a beggar and the rich man was in fact rich (since that is what the parable calls him). He had money, and he would not give to Lazarus. Lazarus would beg, and the rich man would have nothing to do with him, because all he cared about was money. Well, the men died, and the beggar went to be with Jesus, and the rich man opened up his eyes in Hell. What a scary place to be after having all of the money you could ask for. Now, before we get into the thoughts about hell, I want to define two terms for you to make sure you understand them.

Hell (Hades)- The intermediate place of torment for unsaved souls as they await their final judgment at the great white throne

Lake of fire- A literal lake of fire that will be the place of eternal punishment for Satan, his angels, and all who are not found written in the book of life.

Here are a few thoughts about Hell for you today:

  1. Heaven and Hell are both real. Hebrews 9:27 says, “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.” After we die, we will go to one of two places. For the believer it means forever with our Lord and Savior. For the unbeliever, it means to be away from God’s presence and in torment. II Corinthians 5:8 says, “We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.” Hell is a real place. There are people in hell right now. Hell is not their final home. Revelation 20:15 says, “And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” This is the final destination for the unbeliever.
  2. Hell is a horrible place
  •  It is a place of torment V. 23
  • It is a thirsty place V. 24
  • It is a place of fire V. 24
  • It is a place of remembrance V. 25
  • You cannot leave-V. 26

           3.  After death, it is too late to make the decision. If you look, the rich man wanted to change his mind. He could never change his destiny. He determined his destiny by not accepting Jesus as his Savior. I heard someone say, “Only one heart beat separates you from eternity.” That is quick so you better be ready right now. Matthew 6:34 says, “Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself.” We are not promised tomorrow. You are not even promised that you will make it home this evening! This rich man wanted to make his decisions after the fact. It was too late. If you do not make your decision now, it could very well be too late.

           4.  Hell is a motivation for believers V. 27-31. This should motivate us as believers to witness more. We should seek to be at outreach to share Christ and the new life He brings to others. Why? Because the reality and horrible place of Hell. Make a decision tonight to share the new life you have found in Christ with someone this week!

If you have any questions about Heaven or Hell, please email me at joshhevans@gmail.com, and I can discuss further with you about how to avoid this awful place called, hell.

04.18.12
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Bible Study: The Great White Throne Judgment

Revelation 20:11-15: Here we have John writing while on the Isle of Patmos. He is writing about the visions that God has shown him. Here, he gets an incredible glimpse of the Great White Throne judgment. Now, the Bible speaks of two specific judgments.

The Judgment seat of Christ. This is where the saved are judged according to their works whether they be good or bad. This is the judgment that is based upon our rewards and the way that we lived.

Great White Throne: The place of the final judgment for the unsaved

These two judgments are very important to every single person that walks on the face of the earth, because every single person will be at one of these two judgments. The judgment seat of Christ will be the judgment where believers will be rewarded for their service here on earth for the Lord while the Great White Throne judgment will be the judgment where unbelievers will be eternally cast into the lake of fire. I want to give you a few thoughts today about the Great White Throne judgment that will help you:

  1. Jesus Christ will be the judge. John 5:22 says, “For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto His Son:” Acts 17:31 says, “Because He hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom He hath ordained; whereof He hath given assurance unto all men, in that He hath raised Him from the dead.” To accept Jesus is the only way men can be saved. So, He will pass along the final judgment for unbelievers for not accepting Him.
  2. Every sinner will be judged and thrown into the lake of fire. The saved have already been resurrected and judged according to Revelation 20:4-6. So, the dead speaking here must speak solely of the unbelievers. Every unbeliever will be present at this judgment where Jesus Christ looks into the Lambs book of Life to see if they have accepted Him as their Savior or rejected Him. The great white throne will have Jesus judging every unbeliever. They will all be judged for the same crime, and that is unbelief. Status, popularity, riches, or accomplishments will mean nothing at this judgment. There are going to be rich people, and poor people being judged because of their unbelief. God is no respecter of persons (Romans 2:11).
  3. Sinners have no defense. Warren Wiersbe said, “The Great white throne judgment will be nothing like our modern court cases. At the White throne, there will be a judge but no jury, a prosecution but no defense, a sentence but no appeal. No one will be able to defend himself or accuse God of unrighteousness.” Unbelievers will not be given the chance to talk their way out of it. Their “good deeds” will mean nothing at this time, because they committed the same crime, unbelief.
  4. Every unbeliever will be declared guilty- Their fate has already been determined up to this point. It is the guilt of unbelief that gets them to this judgment. Anyone whose name is not written in the book of life will be cast eternally into the lake of fire (Revelation 20). No one walks away free from this judgment.
  5. No one will be given a second chance- Now, this is where many people have a hard time dealing with the love of God. If God is love, wouldn’t He give us a second chance? He has already given you chance after chance. You see, every single person walking on earth has been given the chance to accept Jesus as Savior. He is 100% love, but at the same time, He is 100% holy, 100% just, and 100% righteous. In the midst of these, He cannot allow sin to continue to go unnoticed and unjudged. Think of it this way: If your best friend got brutally murdered, and the guilty person stood before the judge, and said, I did a lot of good in my life, and this one thing I messed up in is minor compared to the good that I have done. If the judge just let him go free, would he be a good or bad judge? Obviously, anyone would say he would be a bad one, because he allowed the guilty to go free. For the greatest crime that anyone could ever commit unbelief cannot go unpunished. It must be judged for God to still be holy and just. There has to be a consequence for unbelief, and the great white throne judgment is the final consequence where the good judge comes to judge the unbelievers for their unbelief.

We all have been given the chance of Salvation right now so that we can be eternally saved from the wrath and judgment that is to come. Will you choose to accept Him as your Savior, and will the believers choose to share their faith out of the love for others and the desire to not allow anyone that they know to come in contact with the great white throne judgment.If you would like to know more about knowing Jesus as your Savior and escaping the Great White Throne judgment, please email me at joshhevans@gmail.com, and we can connect further.

04.16.12
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4 Thoughts to keep students in church after graduation

I blogged a while back about keeping students in church after graduation. You can check it out here. Last week, the topic of discussion from our youth pastor fellowship was about transitioning into the student ministry and out of the student ministry. We discussed several ideas, and it seems that we can boil down to 4 things that we can do to help keep students in church after graduation:

  1. Ownership- This came up quite frequently in our discussion. Students want ownership. They want to feel a part. Every student is seeking acceptance, and owning a ministry or job in a church can help them with that acceptance factor. It can also connect them to think that they are NEEDED in that church!
  2. Service- They must be serving in the local church! Connect them to a ministry and allow for them to serve. It may be to serve on the worship team or in the media department, but connect your students to the local church before they graduate high school!
  3. Relationships- This generation is the most relational that it has ever been! Students everywhere are craving genuine relationships with other people their age. It is essential that they have relationships in your church in order for them to stay faithful in the church after graduation. This is true whether they stay at your church or go off to college somewhere we they need to join a new church.
  4. Group- They need a group! This age needs a place. Remember, they are coming out of a youth ministry where there is a structured program. It is weird and a serious adjustment for them to jump into “big church” from a youth group. I think that it is important for you to have a Bible study group and possibly a service for this age group as they transition into adulthood.
04.05.12
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5 Simple thoughts on Influence

Our pastoral staff had the privilege of going to a pastor’s conference in Gatlinburg, TN last week. It was the Timothy Barnabas conference with Dr. Johnny Hunt. This is a great conference, and I highly encourage you to try to attend if at all possible. He gave some great thoughts on influencing others that I thought were helpful and applicable. I wanted to share them with you today.

 

“You teach what you know, and you reproduce who you are.”

 

  1. Influence starts with integrity- This is doing what is right in the “little things” consistently.
  2. Influence is not the same as authority- Sometimes, authority can be abused, but influence seeks to build.
  3. Influence is about character. Character is what you know you are, and reputation is what others think you are. D.L. Moody said, “If I take care of my character, my reputation will take care of itself.”
  4. Influence is about being genuine. Be real!
  5. Influence requires humility. Andrew Carnegie said, “No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself or get all the credit for doing it.”
04.03.12
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Reasons to try and hire interns in your student ministry

As ministry goes, we are in need of more leaders and even sometimes interns to help us effectively do student ministry! Last summer was one of the busiest summers of my entire life. I was juggling moving into a new home, planning for camp, other trips and activities, helping with vacation Bible school, planning a much-needed vacation, and our baby girl was scheduled to be born. It was extremely hectic as you can imagine. Then came Mark Etheridge! What an answer to our prayers? Mark grew up in the student ministry here, and is at Liberty University studied for student ministry. We offered Mark an internship here with our student ministry, and what turned out to be a hectic summer turned into a fantastic one. I believe in interns, and I want to give you a few reasons why you should consider hiring interns if your ministry can afford and handle it. BTW: Some internships are not paid so keep that in mind when planning.

  1. Interns give you a chance to mentor someone personally- This was my favorite part of the intern program here. I was able to bring Mark alongside of me to do life with me all summer. He ate lunch with us, went places with us, got to know my family real well, and experienced ministry. It is honestly like a personal discipleship program all summer! I loved investing in Mark, and mentoring him for his future ministry.
  2. Interns are helpful to your ministry- This comes in handy majorly during the summer months, because it is super busy, but really interns are helpful anytime of the year! I was able to give Mark jobs, and he would go out and get them done, and he would do them really well. My baby was born a couple of days before our students left for camp so I was able to stay home with my wife while our students went to camp with our intern and other leaders. If he was not in place, I potentially could have had to leave and go down to Florida for camp.
  3. Students love interns- Now, Mark grew up here so some students already knew him, but typically interns are loved by the students. In many cases, the intern could be single, and so a night out with the guy students was regular for Mark and his internship. Our students love cutting up with him, and having a lot of fun.
  4. Interns need training- If they need training, why not give it to them? Honestly, I have learned more being in the ministry than I did in 4 years of Bible college. Mark will tell you that he learned as much about ministry in the summer with us than Bible college. It is hands on training. I gave Mark an overnight activity to completely plan himself, we tagged team teaching through the book of James. So, he got an opportunity all summer to teach and be a part of the programming that comes along with student ministry.
  5. Interns are a great way to utilize your own students who get called into ministry- Before Mark, we had an intern at our church, Austin McCann. Both of these guys have grew up in the ministry at our church. So, our internship program has been a chance to grow “our own” students while they are training for vocational ministry. I was able to be an intern at my home church before I began full-time ministry. It is a great opportunity to grow the ones who have grown up at your ministry!

Bottom line, interns can be a great asset to your ministry! I encourage you to use these young students who are studying for ministry in your student ministry. It could potentially take your ministry to another level.