Category: Articles

Can we trust our Bibles?

 

So good and extremely faith building! Dr. Michael J. Kruger, professor of New Testament and Early Christianity, does a great job answering objections to the New Testament canon in this three-part series.

 
Have you ever heard the following?
 
– “The Bible was just written by men.”
– “There are errors in the Bible.”
– “Constantine/the later church arbitrarily decided which books should be included in the Bible.”
– “You can’t trust the authenticity of the Bible.”
– “What about all these other books (i.e. the ‘Gospel of Thomas,’ etc.)? Why aren’t they part of the Bible?”
 
If so, this series is a must!!
 

Tips for Getting the Most Out of Sermons…

I’m super excited about working through the first ten chapters of Genesis with you guys! I’m just beginning to realize how rich it’s going to be as I start into my studies!!

Some tips for getting the most out of our time (I didn’t come up with them, just compiling):

– Take notes. I’m going to get a bunch of title company notepads and pens to have available! There’s a proven connection between jotting down notes (whether or not you ever revisit them) and retention.
– Ask questions. Either during the time for questions after the sermon, or later on during the meal (or after), make sure to bring up any questions!
– Bring up conversation afterwards/during potluck/throughout the week. During the meal is a great time to bring up discussion about the sermon/passage with other brothers and sisters. This helps everyone to grow and take the word seriously.
– Recap as a family. A good practice is to ask your spouse and children on the way home or that evening about what they got out of the sermon. Dads and moms can paraphrase the message in simpler terms for little ones. Don’t give up; at first you WON’T get much feedback from little people. In the meantime, you’re priming them to take the sermon seriously and be ready with thoughts in the future.
– Read the passage. DO NOT rely on the Sunday sermon alone. This is a group effort, and in order to get the most out of our time together, it’s helpful to include the passage in your reading during the week. Dive into any commentaries and devotionals you can get your hands on. Listen to SermonAudio sermons. Study the passage. Be familiar with the passage BEFORE Sunday.
– Discuss application. As couples and families, take the application seriously, both that suggested by the pastor, as well any that you can come up with. Ask questions like, “How do we start to apply this?,” “How will things change as a result?,” “What’s the plan for application?”

I know there’s going to be a tendency to write these steps off as “too much.” But first, I’d ask that you consider that for the most part, these activities don’t take much, if any additional time. It’s more a matter of reorganizing time (like conversation on the way home), or things you are (hopefully) already doing (like scripture reading). If we’re going to take corporate worship seriously, and the preaching of the word in the local church as seriously as we find in scripture (1 Timothy 4:13-16 & 2 Timothy 4:1-5), we should get the most out of that time to the glory of God!

Tait Zimmerman, Pastor Valley Fellowship

Preaching through Genesis!

We just finished working though the book of Ephesians at Valley Fellowship, and are SO excited to start working through the first ten chapters of Genesis soon, starting the beginning of the year!

Genesis is KEY. Don’t understand Genesis? God’s plan of salvation makes no sense. Compromise on Genesis? The rest of scripture begins to crumble.

Not only that, but there is so much in the way of PRACTICAL instruction here. There is so much in the way of Jesus Christ in Genesis. Jesus Christ is the star of the first ten chapters.

Looking forward to working through this God exalting, believer instructing book of the Bible!!

Some topics that will come up as we journey through the first ten chapters verse-by-verse:

– The Trinity and creation.
– Literal 6 day creation?
– What about the “day-age” and “gap” theories?
– What is the Sabbath day?
– Is work a good thing, or a bad thing?
– Marriage
– The family
– What is man’s God-given role on earth?
– Is man fallen and depraved?
– Is God totally sovereign?
– Will this world be destroyed or renewed someday?
– Environmentalism?
– Who is Satan?
– Was Satan really a snake?
– What is sin?
– How serious is sin?
– What was the tree of life, and tree of knowledge of good and evil?
– What is salvation? What are we saved from?
– What is a “covenant”?
– Was Jesus Christ prophesied in book one of the Bible?
– Why were Adam and Eve suddenly afraid of their nakedness?
– Should there be a death penalty?
– Why are all those lists of names in the Bible?
– Who were the Nephilim?
– Was there a literal worldwide flood?

Join us at 2pm on Sundays at the Wasilla Senior Center! (We meet all the way at the left end of the main complex.)