Journey Student Ministry

Who is? What is? Where are? These are all questions that can be asked of the Journey Student Ministry. I will attempt to tell you exactly who they are, what they do, and where they are. 

Journey Student Ministry or JSM for short, is a dynamic group of Students from First Baptist Church of Rosepine who are committed to sharing the Gospel with anyone and everyone they come into contact with. This small group of Students have big dreams and plans in their walks with the Lord. 

JSM for the first time has been given the power to lead their own ministry and do wonderful things for God, community, and the world. Most of the time when people go to Church all they really look at when it comes to their students is that they are properly supervised and that they stay out of trouble. This is not the case when it comes to the students and parents of the JSM. I can tell you from a leaders perspective that it is evident that the students and parents of this dynamic group want more than just a place to hang out for a few hours on Sunday’s and Wednesday’s. These students actually want to go out into the world and make a true difference for the Kingdom of God, and that is exactly what they are doing.

This year they took on a big project to help and bring awareness to hunger in the world. Now they have done this before in the past, but this year was a little different. The leadership team of this wonderful group approached the 30 Hour Famine Project a little differently this year. Instead of focusing on fun things to keep the students minds off food and how hungry they were, we structured events designed to make them feel every second of the hunger that they would be experiencing. The results of this was staggering, I mean really we have a group of 7-12 grade students who were not allowed to eat and were only allowed to drink water and then we worked them like dogs. From the outset of this event we had the students reaching, sharing, and serving their community. Some of them were given the opportunity to fix up the churches playground so that their younger generation would be able to play again. Some mowed the lawn of one of our most loved widows within the church. Others cooked a meal for the Seniors in the community. Even though this was hard work and it was hot, all of the students felt good about what they had done and felt a sense of accomplishment. They had set a goal to raise $2,000 to send to World Vision to feed 5 children around the world for an entire year. Because of their efforts they raised almost $2,700 and because of them, 7 children this year will not die of starvation.

What I can tell you about these wonderful students is that they are on fire for God. I have been testing them here lately and issuing them challenges, and let me tell you they are rising to every one of them. I have asked them to intentionally reach out to the lost students within their school and pray with them (which they have done). I have asked them to just randomly start telling people that Jesus loves them (which they have done). The only thing that these students needed was a small kick start into their own ministry and some intentional guidance. Once they received this from their ministry leadership, they have taken off like a wild fire. We get messages everyday asking us what we would like for them to do and when we give them a challenge they race to finish it.

The students of JSM are taking off and working for the kingdom of God. It is wonderful to see the younger generation take a stand for what they believe in and the confidence that they have when doing it. If you know someone who fits this description, please send them our way so we can help to foster that passion for God. Our students welcome anyone with open arms, and definitely accept all as they are. I could not be prouder or more honored to have the chance to be a part of these students lives.

In Christ,
Gods Every Day Dude

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Study Into Romans

To someone who is reading the Bible for the first time, they might get to the Book of Romans and ask “why should I care about what some dude was telling the people of Rome thousands of years ago?” From a Christian’s point of view I would think that answer was simple, the Book of Romans is the theological model for the doctrine of salvation. This letter was penned by Paul the Apostle to the believers in Rome in an effort to spread the Gospel while he was doing his ministry work. It is important to note that Paul did not start out to write a book of doctrine, but rather to write a letter of encouragement to the believers in Rome during a time that believing in Christ could end up getting one killed for their beliefs.[1]

To understand the Book of Romans a little better we must answer a few simple questions. Who was the letter written to? What exactly was it like in Rome at the time this letter was written? Where was this letter written? Finally who was the author of the letter?

Let’s start with the last question first as I believe it’s the easiest to answer. It is apparent from the first verse in Romans that Paul the Apostle is the author of the letter. In the letters introduction Paul immediately identifies himself in his standard style of introductions as seen in all of the 13 epistle letters that he authored to various churches. Furthermore Paul repeatedly refers to himself in the first person throughout his introduction. “First, I thank God through Jesus Christ for all of you because the news of your faith is being reported in all the world.” (Romans 1:8 HCSB)

There question as to who the letter was written to has sparked some debate between scholars. If I am just reading the Bible and not trying to read into any hidden meanings, the answer to this question is in black and white in the scripture, “To all who are in Rome, loved by God called as saints.” (Romans 1:8 HCSB) This one verse here tells me that this letter was written to anyone who was a follower and believer in Christ. The debate comes later in the Book where Paul is making specific references to the “Gentiles” and the “Jews”. There are those that argue that Paul is addressing only one of these groups but not both of them in harmony.[2] Moo’s textbook points out the fact that Paul was addressing both the “Jewish” and “Gentile” Christians, with a majority of the focus being on the Gentile Christians. I would like to offer an explanation of why this would be. At this time in history the greatest person to ever walk the earth had just been exucted and crucified for all of mankind by his own people. The promised people had refused to listen to all the scripture, miracles, and prophecies surrounding Jesus. Among many other things the crucifixion of Christ led to the “Great Commission”, which in turn focused on the spreading of the Gospel and salvation to everyone, “Jews and Gentiles” alike.

So where was this letter actually composed at? Paul writes this letter during his third missionary journey while in Corinth.[3] In order to be thorough I left the text book in order to find an additional source that supports this theory of where this letter was written. The Book of Romans itself gives several clues as to where it was written. One of these, “I commend to you our sister Pheobe, who is a servant of the church in Cenchrae.” (Romans 16:1 HCSB) It is suggested that Pheobe carried this letter for Paul from Cenchrae which was in or near Corinth. In addition Paul sends greetings from Gaius and Erastus (Romans 16:23) who were also residents at Corinth (1 Cor 1:14; 2 Tim 4:20).[4]

So why did Paul write this letter to the Romans? First Paul wanted to remind the believers of some fundamental truths, therefore fulfilling his duty of proclaiming the Gospel to the Gentiles as seen in Romans 15:14-16. He was also concerned with false teachers infiltrating the church, “Now I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause dissensions and obstacles contrary to the doctrine you have learned.” (Romans 16:17 HCSB) In addition Paul wanted to address some of the issues that the church in Rome was facing. He especially wanted to call the church to unify and bring to light the differences between Gentiles and Jew’s. Romans 9-11 stresses equality between Jews and Gentile believers and he points out that Jews and Gentiles alike are condemned as sinners (Romans 2:9, 3:9, 23) and are saved by grace through faith only apart from the works of Law (Romans 3:22, 28-30) Finally this letter was a way for Paul to formally introduce himself to the Roman church before he arrived and try and drum up support for his upcoming Spanish mission.

Bibliography

Moo, Douglas J. Romans: The NIV Application Commentary. Edited by Terry Muck. Grand Rapids , MI: Zondervan, 2000.

Quarles, Charles L. "Romans, Letter to the." In Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary, edited by Chad O Brand, Charles W Draper and Archie W England, 1409-1415. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2003.

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[1] Moo, Douglas J. Romans: The NIV Application Commentary. Edited by Terry Muck. Grand Rapids , MI: Zondervan,

     2000. pg 16

[2] Moo, Douglas J. Romans: The NIV Application Commentary. Edited by Terry Muck. Grand Rapids , MI: Zondervan,

     2000. pg 21

[3] Moo, Douglas J. Romans: The NIV Application Commentary. Edited by Terry Muck. Grand Rapids , MI: Zondervan,

     2000. pg 17

[4] Quarles, Charles L. "Romans, Letter to the." In Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary, edited by Chad O Brand,

     Charles W Draper and Archie W England, 1410. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2003.

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My Wife

I have been sitting here wondering what exactly I did in my life to wind up with a wonderful woman like my wife. As I am reflecting and going through my walk with the Lord it has become apparent what it was that brought her to me. God.

Genesis tells us that God created woman to be a compliment to man. To complete the man. If you read Genesis and the story of creation you will see that there was only one time where God says that it wasn't good. That was the day that He created man alone, God immediately rectified this problem by creating the woman to compliment/complete the man. So what has happened so drastically that we as men look at our wives as more of a possession and or servant and not as an equal.

The fact is there are very few instances in the Bible where the woman is not equal to the man. In fact in almost every case we are (both men and women) created equal, and seen as equal in Christ. Some men don't see this and take advantage of what they perceive their station in life to be to make their wives seem almost like a slave. If you are one of those men, I beg you to please go back and read the Bible a little to see exactly what we as men were commanded by God to do.

In the beginning God gave us men the charge/commandment to be the spiritual head of our house. What exactly does this mean? Does this mean that everything that I say my wife has to immediately agree with and do? I personally do not believe so. What I believe it means is that it is our responsibility as men to take charge of the house and act in the best interest of the household. This does not give us free reign to take advantage of that commandment. Take a look at the story of Adam and Eve. What is widely known is that Eve was approached by the Satan (the serpent) and was deceived into taking a bite of the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge. We also know that it was commanded by God that they could eat from any tree but that one. But lets actually take a look and see who is truly at fault. Right now all  the men reading this are cheering saying, "yeah if it hadn't been for Eve we wouldn't be in this situation." Is this true, lets take a look.

And the Lord God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree of the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, for on the day you eat from it, you will certainly die." (Genesis 2:17) Then the Lord God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper as his compliment." (Genesis 2:18) So here we see that God commanded Adam not to eat from that tree, then He realized that it was not good for man to be alone and created his compliment. The next few verses go into the creation of the woman from the rib of man and so on. What I see is important is that when we get into the temptation story, God instructed only Adam and not Eve, it was Adams responsibility to impress upon his wife the importance of not eating the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Which if you read the text in Genesis 3:2-3 you can see that Adam had informed Eve about this, but did he truly stress the importance of this command. I don't think he did because as we men like to look over in this story, Adam was present throughout the entire process. "So she took some of its fruit and ate it; she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Even though Satan targeted Eve he did so in the presence of Adam, it was Adams responsibility to stand up and take the God given leadership role and stop this action and he failed, and for that we all are born into sin because of his failure.

Why did I chose to write this you might ask? Well that is simple, I have been going through and trying to figure out exactly what it means to take the leadership role in my home. My wife has been studying and trying her hardest to assist me in this endeavor and let me tell you it is not easy. I can say though that if it was meant to be easy then God would not have been so emphatic when He commanded us men to take this role. I thank God everyday for giving me a loving and caring wife, who through her own pains continues to push me to live up the role that God has commanded me to. I do not do this with hopes of controlling my wife, but to protect her and complete us the way God intended. I encourage any of the men who might read this to think about that the next time they decide that they are going to get something because they are the bread winner, and deny their wives some simple things that they want. Our job is to protect and provide for the families, not to provide for ourselves and then our families. When we get it wrong, we are disobeying God's plan and to do that is just plain sinful.

Gods Everyday Dude

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Eternal Damnation

Eternal Punishment

The age old question of what will happen when I die has become a debated topic amongst different religious organizations over the years. When addressing this subject you must decide if you are coming at it from a biblical perspective or not. When I read the bible I believe that the bible clearly defines where you will go when you leave your physical body. This paper will attempt to address some of the different views as well as my own.

There are three common thoughts within the religious community about what will happen when your time is up and those are eternal punishment, annihilationism, and universalism. Eternal punishment is the belief that the sinners who chose not to accept Christ as their saviour will be eternally punished and tormented in hell.[1] Annihilationism is the belief that some, if not all, human soles will cease to exist after death.[2] Finally you have universalism, which is the doctrine which asserts that all men will eventually be reconciled to God.[3]

The bible has many different names for hell, but most commonly stated in scripture are Sheol, Hades, and Gehenna. Sheol is related to the grave in numerous scriptures in the Bible, but it is more commonly described as an intermediate state in which soles are dealt with according to their lives on earth. Jesus conquered Sheol when he was resurrected, and in affect turned this final resting place into a changing room where one could change out of their current state into their final state, whether that was eternal glory or damnation. Hades is almost the same as Sheol as it is defined as the abode of the dead.[4] Gehenna is biblically the most accurate depiction of hell due to the sacrificial practices that were conducted there. Gehenna is even stated as being a place of shame the will become the punishment place of by God.[5]

So what do I think about eternal punishment of the unsaved? That is simple; I believe those that do not accept Jesus as their saviour and repent of their sins will be punished for eternity. It is stated throughout the Bible that if you refuse to accept Christ as your saviour and repent that you will not receive eternal life instead you will receive eternal punishment. I believe the best passage that states this is in the book of John right after one of the most quoted scriptures in history. “Anyone who believes in Him is not condemned, but anyone who does not believe is already condemned.”(John 3:18) If you look further into the bible you will also find that in the book of Romans chapter 8 we are compared and described as slaves. The point of this passage is to let you know that you truly have only 2 choices in life. First to become a slave to God and live in eternal glory, or to become a slave to the Devil and live in eternal damnation.

Mathew 25:46 states “And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” This is an interpretation of the second judgment. They refer to those who have turned away and denied God, and the righteous are those who have submitted. The word eternal is exactly that, eternal. There is no other way to interpret this scripture than the way that it reads. Only those who are looking for a reason to not believe in eternal punishment will try and disprove this.

The opposition to my view and the biblical view on eternal punishment usually will come from the universalism side of the house. There are those out there that just want to see the good of God and not the wrath. Their arguments are usually based on their idea that a loving God would never subject His creation to such a hideous punishment. To support their view I wish I could provide you with some biblical evidence but the fact of the matter is that there is none. When you hear people try and contradict the theory of eternal punishment with watered down scripture keep this in mind. “But to interpret such passages as meaning that in the end all will be saved is to go beyond what the writers are saying and to ignore the fact that in the contexts there are usually references to God’s condemnation of the wicked or to the final separation between good and evil or the like.”[6]

Is it fair for a God who loves us so much to condemn His own creation to a life of eternal damnation? My answer is simply yes. God created us perfect with Adam, but He also created us with free will. He wanted us to be able to make up our own minds on whether or not we would glorify Him and we chose wrong. This fact and action requires consequences and those consequences result in eternal damnation. This final disposition is not some big mystery, anyone who reads the bible can read what is expected of them from their creator and what happens should we chose not to be obedient. Yet people choose to make that decision that condemns them to eternal punishment. Is it fair that we as the creation choose not to honor a glorious and loving God? That is the question that truly needs to be answered.

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[1] Morris, L.L. "Eternal Punishment." In Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, edited by Walter A. Elwell, 395-396.

      Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2001.

[2] Nicole, R. "Annihilationism." In Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, edited by Walter A. Elwell, 64. Grand Rapids ,

      MI: Baker Academic, 2001.

[3] Root, J.R. "Universalism." In Evangelical Book of Theology, edited by Walter A. Elwell, 1232-1233. Grand Rapids ,

      MI: Baker Academic, 2001.

[4] Motyner, J.A. "Hades." In Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, edited by Walter A. Elwell, 532. Grand Rapids , MI:

      Baker Academic, 2001.

[5] Cruz, V. "Gehenna." In Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, edited by Walter A. Elwell, 480. Grand Rapids, MI:

      Baker Academic, 2001.

[6] Morris, L.L. "Eternal Punishment." In Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, edited by Walter A. Elwell, 395-396.

      Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2001.

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