The Gospel of John

We began the study of the Gospel of John this past Sunday during our Fusion Sunday morning service.  I am really excited to begin this journey with the students.  For almost 4 years, we have gone through series about a particular subjects, studied a section of Scripture, but never went through an entire book.  This journey began for me back a couple of weeks ago, when we took a group of middle school students to Fuge camp.  The camp pastor, Tim Bertram, used the Gospel of John each night during worship.  That week revealed some things to me that I had never picked up on in reading before.  So in the weeks ahead, we are going to look at John as he revealed two specific purposes for writing this Gospel-Who Jesus is and why we should believe in Him.

Some facts about John:

In Matthew, you read the words of a believer that loves Jesus
In Mark & Luke, you read the words of writers that used some eyewitness accounts.
In John, you read the words of one of Jesus' closest friends.
John, his brother James, and Peter were the inner three of Jesus.
John's Gospel was one of the last books written in the New Testament.  John was an old man that wrote this Gospel around 70A.D.  Theologians say that John wrote this in Ephesus after the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed.
John didn't give a chronological history of Jesus: birth, life, death, resurrection.  John passionately wrote about the love of Jesus. 
  The theme for the entire Gospel of John is summed up in John 20:30-31.  John writes,

"Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book;  but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name."

My prayer as we go through this Gospel is, that we will have a greater understanding of who Jesus is and that the students faith will increase, thanks to the words written in the Gospel of John.

Fabulous Life of a Teenager-A Commitment

 

When the pilot of a giant airline is speeding down the runway; there is a certain point where it staying on the ground is no longer an option.  When he crosses that line, he is committed to the air, he will take off or a disastrous crash is imminent.  The pilot can no longer change his mind he is committed.  This past Sunday, we continued the "Fabulous Life of a Teenager."  Our focus was on commitment, more importantly the commitment to Christ.  There is of course a difference between a decision and a commitment. 

The same can be said about people in the church today.  They made a decision about Christ, but have not made a commitment to Christ.  They have been sitting there gunning their engines, making noise but getting nowhere.  They have been planning on it, meaning to, wanting to, trying to, going to, aiming to, hoping to. But tragedy of tragedies, they have never got off the ground.  My last post, I ended it with Romans 12:1-2 where Paul writes,

"I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.  Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect."

It is impossible to be "sort of committed."  You are either committed or you are not committed.  To commit ourselves to God means that we are to yield ourselves to him, surrender to him, abandon ourselves to him, entrust ourselves to him and place ourselves at his disposal.

There are two clear calls to commitment that every believer has to face.

1.  Commitment to Personal Growth-we are called to commit ourselves as disciples.  Disciples are learners.  Make a commitment to continue to grow spiritually.  Start a Bible reading plan, set aside time each day to pray, read good Christian literature, and find yourself a small group or Bible study.  Never give up learning.

2.   Commitment to the Local Body-the local church gathers for worship, teaching, and fellowship to gain power to carry out the ministry as we scatter to the various places of responsibility in the world.  It is getting involved in the life of the church.  Get involved by serving somewhere in the church.

God Bless,

Billy

Fabulous Life of a Teenager-Peer Pressure

I began a study this past Sunday entitled, "Fabulous Life of a Teenager."  Over the next several weeks we will look at the things that impact the lives of today's teenager.  One of the biggest challenges for today's teen is peer pressure.  Even though everyone deals with some kind of peer pressure, I wanted to focus in on the things that teenagers are pressured into. Teenagers are pressured in the clothes they wear, the things they do, and the friends they have.  Everyone wants to feel that they belong, the sad part is that teenagers will do things that they know is wrong just to receive acceptance from a group of their peers.  In the weeks to come our student ministry will look at Scripture to see what God says to us.  Parents, the good news is that, you are the biggest influence on your teen when they are dealing with peer pressure.  My prayer is that God is the focus during some hard conversations that you have with your teenager. 

 Scripture gives us the answer to dealing with the things of the world, in Romans 12:1-2 is says,

 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. ² Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Billy Edwards
Student Pastor
Eastside Community Church

Fabulous Life of a Teenager

Over the next several weeks, the Fusion Student Ministries, will be covering a topic that NO student can say, "that doesn't apply to me and my life."  During our Fusion service on Sundays @ 11am, we will be looking at the struggles of today's teenagers and the responsibility that God has given to each of His children, even teenagers.  One thing that I have discovered during my research for this study, there are things that today's teen has to deal with that I didn't when I was their age.  Each week, I will be posting information and thoughts about the subject that we focused on the previous Sunday. 

Please be in prayer for this series and for the students that will hear it.  That God will work in the lives and hearts of Eastside's teenagers. 

God Bless,
Billy Edwards

High School Basketball Night

Starting Thursday, March 21st, Fusion Student Ministries is having a weekly get together for high school guys to come and play some basketball.  We will be getting together at Kit Carson Elementary from 6-8pm. 

New Small Group Study & a Fusion First

We are at the end of "Defining Moments," the first church-wide campaign at Eastside.  I have enjoyed the discussions that have come inside of the middle school boys small group.  As I began to look for what's next to study as a student ministry, I began to think about what is typically missing in the Christian walk of a teenager.  After spending several days searching, I came across a study that I feel is something that can drastically impact the life of each of the students, if they will dive into this study.  The title of this study is, "Sticky Faith." Starting on Wednesday, April 17th, we will begin the 8-week study that will begin to show students Biblical disciplines and study helps, so they can learn to memorize Scripture.  Each week, we will begin our Wednesday night with a time of worship.  Then, we will break into small groups, we may even mix up the groups for this study.  Our Wednesday nights begin at 6:15pm.  If your are a middle school or high school student, come join us and be a part of a small group.

On April 19-20, we will be having a DNOW Lock-in at Eastside Community Church.  The event kicks of at 6pm on Friday night with an amazing worship service.  The Bible study that we will be having is, "I AM JONAH."  We are going to have games, we are going to have food, but most importantly, we are going to take a hard look at the story of Jonah and how our lives have a lot of similarities with his.  There will be three breakouts, with a small group time afterwards.  The lock-in will end around 6pm on Saturday evening.  There is a cost, it is $20 per student, that will pay for food, study curriculum, and a t-shirt.  I have send invitations to youth groups around Madison County and we want students to invite their friends.  The goal for this event is, for students to see that God has BIG plans for them and what are they running from.

Tragedy seems like a way of life, its everywhere you look.  You sit down at night and turn on the news and typically the entire newscast is about tragedy that has struck someone's life.   The question is, how do we respond when tragedy happens in our life.  Of course, we are sad, hurt, or angry.  I know that we should look to God for comfort, but sometimes when we look to God it is for another reason.  We begin to ask, "Where where you?"  You could have have stopped this from happening, you could have healed them, you could have changed the outcome.  With the tragedy that occurred in Connecticut a couple of weeks ago, we have a lot of "why" questions.   With this still fresh on everyone's mind, I have decided that some of those questions need to be answered. 

Starting Sunday, January 6th, the Fusion students will be tackling some of the hard questions.  The series, "Where was God when....?"  Over the month of January, we will use our Sunday morning service and our Wednesday night small groups to dive into Scripture and find some answers.  Mike Calhoun and Ric Garland have a powerful teaching curriculum and there will be a video teaching to unpack the Word for us.  If you are a teenager, you need to invite your friends and make sure to be in attendance for each session.

Session 1(January 6th)   Omniscience
Session 2(January 9th)   Immutability
Session 3(January 13th) Faithfulness
Session 4(January 16th) Sovereignty
Session 5(January 20th) God's Love
Session 6(January 23rd) Wisdom
Session 7(January 27th) Omnipresence
Session 8(January 30th) Mercy & Justice

Finally, I want to wish everyone a Happy New Year!

Keep Christ First
Billy Edwards