Questions and Answers

Christianity 101: Man and Sin

We are on to part five of our Series Christianity 101, Man and Sin.  This material in based on the book...

You can find the complete series here...

Introduction:
What is man?  Are we merely glorified animals?  Are we only the sum total of all our chemicals and their reactions?  Or are we more? 
The question of our identity underlies all we do and all we become.  Are we a product of mere chance or are we a product of creation?
Never was it more important for a Christian to understand what the Bible says about mankind.  Its truth contains God’s anchor in the sea of human speculations.

Christianity 101: Christ's Death

We are on to part four of our Series Christianity 101, Christ's Death.  This material in based on the book...

You can find the complete series here...

Introduction:
Items covered
Week 1: The Bible
Week 2: God
Week 3: Jesus Christ and how he fits into the Godhead.
This week we will go into more detail about the death of Christ.

The cross of Jesus Christ has been called “the central fact of human history.”
To the entire world the cross is the primary symbol of Christianity.
It crowns church spires, highlights church auditoriums, and even dangles on jewelry counters.
The cross was Jesus’ intentional goal.
The death of Christ on the cross also singles out the uniqueness of Christianity. 
Here God has done for us what we could not do for ourselves.
Every other religious system in the world is essentially a “do it yourself” proposition.  Only in Christianity is salvation a free gift.

When we fully grasp the meaning of Christ’s death for us then and only then will our hearts turn to true worship.

Let’s work on that understanding.

God Wants You to be Happy: The Marks of a Happy Person

THE MARKS OF A HAPPY PERSON      
By Warren Coe
South Suburban Evangelical Free Church

For complete series go here...

Psalm 1:1-6

INTRODUCTION

1.  A churchgoer wrote a letter to editor of a paper & complained it made no sense to go to church every Sunday.  I've gone for 30 yrs now, he wrote,
● In that time I’ve heard something like three thousand sermons, for the life of me, I can’t remember one.
● So, I think I’m wasting my time and the pastors are wasting their by giving sermons
● This started a real controversy in Letters to Editor column; to delight of Editor.

2. It went on for weeks until someone wrote this clincher: I’ve been married for 30yrs.  In that time my wife has cooked some 32k meals.
● For life of me, I can’t recall entire menu for single one of those meals
● But I know this: They all nourished me and gave me the strength I needed to continue.
● If my wife had not given me these meals, I would be physically dead.

3.  Likewise, if I had not gone to church for nourishment, I would be spiritually dead today!  We probably won’t remember the title of this message in two weeks.  That’s okay.
● What we do know is that God feeds our soul through his word.
● And he has been nourishing us from Psalm 1.  Ps1 is one of 150 Psalms in the book of Psalms.
● Hebrews called the Book of Ps tehillim=praise.  It was Israel’s worship book

4.  Ps1 is placed in 1st place because of its theme.  How blessed is the man!  Here is summary of entire book of Ps, in fact entire Bible.  How blessed…
● God means for us to live happy lives.  No person modeled happiness better than Jesus.
● Weddings, children in lap, living in joy, praying for joy & dying in joy.
● Blessing & happiness is theme of Ps1.  V1 is the negative.  V2 is the positive.

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Catholics and Evangelicals: Similarities: Church

Catholics and Evangelicals: Similarities: Church

We are moving along to the sixth part of our series Catholics and Evangelicals based on the book Roman Catholics and Evangelicals: Agreements and Differences by Norman Geisler.  In this section we will discuss the doctrine of the Church.  Like in previous sections I think you may be amazed with the similarities that there are between the two traditions.

There are of course some major differences between Catholics and evangelicals on the nature of the church, but there are also significant similarities.  In this installment of our series we will delve into those similarities.

Christianity 101: Christ

We are on to part three of our Series Christianity 101, Christ.  This material in based on the book...

You can find the complete series here...

Introduction:
Christianity is Christ
Buddha is not essential to Buddhism, or Muhammad to Islam, but everything about Christianity is determined by the person and work of Jesus Christ.

But who is Jesus Christ?

We will first discuss the supernatural side of Jesus

Fully God

The foundation of Christianity is Jesus Christ is fully God.

What are the biblical references of this idea?
Answers:
• John 1:1 “The word was God”
• John 1:14 “The word became flesh and lived for awhile among us”
• Titus 2:13 “our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ”
• 1 John 5:20 “his Son Jesus Christ the true God and eternal life
• Name Jesus was Greek for Hebrew name Joshua which means “God saves”
• At his baptism he was called “Messiah” and the Christ

Why is it important that Jesus is fully God?
Answers
1. When we sin, we sin against God and only God can forgive us of our sins.
2. It shows how personal God really is.
3. Only God can be the perfect lamb.

Christianity 101: God

We are on to part two of our Series Christianity 101, God.  This material in based on the book...

You can find the complete series here...

Introduction:
A.W. Tozer: “What we believe about God is the most important thing about us.”
Our belief or lack of it inevitably translates itself into our actions, our attitudes, and our view of the world.

Imagine what the Old Testament (OT) character Joseph thought about God to react to his traitorous brothers the way he did in Gen. 45.

Consider Moses leaving a King’s palace to live in poverty in Exodus 2.

Hebrews 11 outlines the faith hall of fame of OT believers.  They were not noted because of what they said they believed but what they did because they believed.  Faith in God produces action.

The word “God” is one of the most widely used terms in our language yet it is nebulous and has little meaning.
“If we are interested in reality we will want to know what God is really like.”
We must know what God is really like so that we can judge what is true and false of the images of God we see today in our culture.

In this chapter we will be focusing on God.  Now that we understand what we believe about the Bible (from last week) we can use it to discover God!

God Wants You to be Happy: Delight in God's Word!

DELIGHT IN GOD’S WORD!      
By Warren Coe
South Suburban Evangelical Free Church

For complete series go here...

Psalm 1:1-6

INTRODUCTION
1.  In CS Lewis’ The Great Divorce, folks of hell are given a last chance to gain heaven.  After arriving in glory they complain that the light is too bright, the grass is too hard and the people too big
● Lewis’ saints Solid Ones.  Godless are terrified as Spirit coaxes the Ghost to join
● Ghost snarls, I wish I’d never been born, What are we born for? 
● Spirit answers for infinite happiness, You can step out into it at any moment

2.  Lewis’ view of the Christian life is a life of infinite happiness.  Begin with the creation of the 1st man, God made life to be happy.  Happiness is in DNA of human experience. 
● Pascal, All men seek happiness. There are no exceptions.
● Jefferson, We hold these truths to be self-evident,—that all men are created equal; that they’re endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness

3.  A sad irony in the pursuit of happiness is that most people are miserable.  In the J.P. Sarte novel, The Nausea, he says I’ve discovered I am alive & it sickens me
● That’s how people feel.  They change jobs, homes, spouse but still unhappy.
● Still we wonder, How can I be happy in a joy-killing world?
● The Answer is found in Psalm 1.  Ps1 is a road map that leads to happiness; it shows the ways

4.  It begins with the declaration, How blessed is man!  Here is main theme of Ps1; happiness and blessing.  V1 is a negative; telling us what not to do in finding happiness
● Then in V2 we have a positive; what to do to gain this life of blessing.
● It comes down to right attitude and right reaction to God’s Word.
● The blessed life can be experienced when God’s Word is central to our lives.

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God Wants You to be Happy: The Ways of Happiness

THE WAYS OF HAPPINESS

By Warren Coe

South Suburban Evangelical Free Church

For complete series go here...

Psalms 1:1-6

INTRODUCTION

1. Christianity is a life of joy. The Lord has designed Christian living to be joy-filled, happy & blessed. Ps 37:4 commands us to delight in Lord. Ph 4:4 Rejoice in Lord always

• Joy & blessing are not secondary to God’s purpose in living, they are primary.
• In creating & saving, he meant it all for joy. God means us to be happy.
• J. Taylor once said, God threatens terrible things if we will not be happy

2. But this raises a question. If the chief end of man is to glorify God, isn’t the pursuit of happiness at odds with the pursuit of God’s glory? Answer: God is glorified when our joy is found in him

• Jn15:7-11  If you abide in the Father, He is glorified, obey and joy results. God gets glory and we get the joy.
• It is not wrong to seek God for blessing. His is glorified when we feast on inexhaustible resources.
• The reason folks aren’t happy is they value what can’t satisfy. Seek God, find happiness.

3.This is the sole purpose of Ps1—Ps God the Holy Spirit wants us to live in blessing & happiness. We don’t know the author of this chapter, though some think it’s David.

• Providence decreed Ps1 as 1st Ps to begin the Book of Psalms. Why?
• Because of its theme. Ps1 has been called the summary of the Christian faith.
• Entire message of God’s law is stated in Ps1. God wants us to be happy and he shows us how.

4. Last week we considered the nature of the happiness God has ordained for his people. We noticed it was attention getting happiness—penultimate, spectacular.

• Its abundant happiness. In the original Hebrew, blessing is plural. God really wants us happy
• God isn’t stingy in blessing his people. He is liberal in generosity!
• Today from Ps1 we discover the road map that leads us to inexhaustible joy.

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Christianity 101: Know What You Believe Series

I constantly get questions on basic Christianity so I decided to so a series on the topic.  I will base this series on the classic book by Paul E. Little...

In each section of the series we will be discussing the fundamentals of the faith.  Topics covered will include…

• The Bible
• God
• Jesus Christ
• Christ’s Death and Resurrection
• Man and Sin
• The Holy Spirit
• Salvation
• Angels, Satan, and Demons
• The Church
• Things to Come

This class will be great for both the new Christian and those more matured in their faith that want to brush up on these previously studied topics so that they can more easily share them with others.

Use the links above to get to each individual topic.

I hope you enjoy the study as much as I enjoy presenting it.

God Bless You!

God Wants You to be Happy! PSALMS 1:1-6 Part 1

By Warren Coe

South Suburban Evangelical Free Church

For complete series go here.

INTRODUCTION Psalms 1:1-6: 1

1.  As a young Christian I read Blasé Pascal’s Pensees. This mathematical and literary genius said something amazing nearly 400yrs ago.

• All men seek happiness. There are no exceptions. However different the means they may employ, they all strive towards this goal. This is the motive of every act of every man including those who hang themselves.
• These words shocked me. Is desire to follow Christ fueled by the desire to be happy?
• So I re-read the Bible with the goal to discover if, indeed, God created us to be happy.

2. I read Ps37:4 Delight yourself in the Lord. 1Th5:16 Rejoice always. Jm1:3 says Consider it all joy my brethren when you encounter various trials...

• These verses & hundreds like them say the same thing; God wants us to be happy.
• But I needed more proof. So I turned to Ps1. The first Psalm that begins the book of Psalms.
• Ps1 has been called Psalm of Psalms. David may have written it. Jeremiah quoted it

3. Providence decreed that when the book of Psalms was assembled that this Psalm would be in the leadoff position. God the Holy Spirit made this 1st place in Psalter.

• Theme & content of Ps1 is a perfect summary of God’s law & purpose for man
• God’s aim for his people is happiness.
• He teaches this truth by contrasting way of righteous with the way of wicked.

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