David Crowder Does It Again

The David Crowder Band certainly knows how to rock out. But more importantly they also know how to worship and honor God with their lyrics. The tech savvy band has written one of their most power packed albums, in my opinion, ever. I believe this album offers so much more than just sweet beats and stepwise melodies-it offers the challenge of change. The Remedy is the perfect name for this album as Crowder shares his heart of worship through lyrics that declare: Jesus is the only remedy for the disease of our sinful nature. John 14:6 is very clear that Jesus is the only way to heaven. Crowder finishes his album with a beautifully titled song "Surely, we can change." What an amazing challenge to all of us. Surely we can change and become more like Jesus. Let us throw off everything that hinders and run this race of lifewith endurance that is provided by God through the Holy Spirit! I am very pumped as people of God listen to this album and draw closer to the heart of God.










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TalkPoint: Fear

Hi Everyone!

We are in week 2 of this series of Bible studies on being relevant people of God to a culture that is so hungry for Jesus. Last week we talked about a very important issue and that was the issue of faith. This week we are continuing on as we talk about an issue that coincides with faith and that is the issue of fear. You might ask: “Brad, why does fear go along with faith?” That is a good question.
Fear coincides with faith because more often than not those of us who have faith in Jesus do not share our faith with others because we are “afraid” to do it. God offers us this amazing free gift of Jesus and when we accept this gift most of the time we just keep it tucked away in the back pocket of our heart. God never intended for his church to hide the gift of freedom from sin, in fact, in Matthew 28 verse 19 Jesus commanded us to do the exact opposite. Jesus commanded us to “go and tell the whole world about Him. He told us to go and make disciples-disciples being people who are passionately committed to Jesus.
You might then ask: “Well, Brad, I understand that it is important to be committed to Jesus, but what does that mean?” Let’s first take a look at what the word committed means. To be committed by definition means to bind or obligate, as by pledge or assurance. Being committed to Jesus is being one that is passionately obligated to read God’s word, bound to pray fervently seeking direction from the Holy Spirit, and live according to how the Bible teaches us to live. You might think, “Great, a bunch of rules and regulations to follow, I have enough of those at home and school.” But I am writing as a witness that God’s Word is not by any means a book of dos or don’ts but a book of relationships, that is relationships between man and his creator God. The Bible is the greatest love story ever written. When we talked about faith we talked about God sending His Son to live a perfect life, die a horrible death and then raise from the dead to overcome sin and death and offer salvation and eternal life to all of us if we will believe in Jesus. (John 3:16-17) That is the very foundation of faith. The gift of Jesus is the greatest free gift that anyone could ever offer and too often we are afraid to share this gift with friends or maybe even family. You see being relevant through your faith to a culture that is in dire need of freedom from sin has been God’s plan since the beginning of time.
So if this has been God’s plan since the beginning of time then let’s take a look at what God’s word says to do when we become fearful of what other’s might think about us when they find out that we believe in Jesus. You might think: “OK, am I the only one who is fearful of sharing my faith with someone else?” No way! All through the Bible there are stories of people who want to do what God’ wants them to do but become too fearful of what people might think of them or maybe even what people might do to them if they find out that they are people who believe in God. One example of a person in the Bible who wanted to do what God wanted Him to do but was a little fearful of death because of that which God wanted Him to do was Moses. (Exodus 3) Moses was an amazing man of God. But even He was scared when God told Him to go and stand before a great king and tell Him that he must let all of his slaves go for they are God’s people and are not being treated as such. He told God in verse 11 of Exodus chapter 3 “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” You see Moses knew that he was only a man no better than you or I but here was God telling him to go and stand before a powerful king and tell him to release all of this free labor. Moses must have though “God you have to be kidding” But then we see going on to verse 12 that God promises Moses He will help: “And God said, ‘I will be with you.’” (Exodus 3:12 NIV)
God promises us the very same thing. If we look at Psalm 46:1-2 it says “God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble. So we will not fear when earthquakes come and the mountains crumble into the sea.” NLT God promises to be our refuge and our strength. He will never lead us into a situation where He will not help us. Therefore, He will always be with us when we attempt to share our faith with someone else. In fact in Mark 13:11 Jesus says that we should not worry (fear) when we face a tough situation because the Holy Spirit will give us the words to say. Man, what an awesome promise. To know that if we share our faith with others that we don’t have to worry because the Holy Spirit will give us the words to say is an amazing relief. God knows the person you are talking to. God designed them, just like He designed you. So don’t you think He would know what to say to the person you might be sharing with…yes He does. So don’t worry. Do not fear for God is with you. Trust Him. When you trust someone you can relinquish all control to that person. If you will just trust God then He will always be there to help you and make you victorious in whatever situation you may be facing. But remember, it’s not about you. It’s all about Jesus. Don’t be afraid. You have the most amazing gift in the world if you believe in Jesus. Share it with others as Jesus told us to do. It is God’s plan and He promises to be with you. NO FEAR!

If you need anything, please, don’t hesitate to email.

Brad French
+ mailto:brad@newlifexn.org
Relevant Student Ministries Webpage
+http://www.newlifexn.com/studentministries/index.html






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TalkPoint: Faith

Hey Everybody!

This week at Relevant we discussed what faith is and why we need to have faith in God. In this week's talkpoint we will be looking at some very important passages from the Bible regarding this very important issue of FAITH.

First let's start by asking the question: "What is faith?"

In the book of Hebrews chapter 11 beginning in verse 1 we read:
"Faith is the confidence that we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see." NLT

I like the Rob Lacey's Word on the Street paraphrase of this verse:
"What's 'taking God at his word' mean? Let me fill you in. It's being dead sure of our prospects. It's being sold on something we've no evidence for, convinced when there's no proof." WOTS

When we take a look at the definition of FAITH from Random House Inc. Dictionary we see that the definition is very complex but pointed:

FAITH (noun)

1.
confidence or trust in a person or thing: faith in another's ability.
2.
belief that is not based on proof: He had faith that the hypothesis would be substantiated by fact.
3.
belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion: the firm faith of the Pilgrims.
4.
the obligation of loyalty or fidelity to a person, promise, engagement, etc.: Failure to appear would be breaking faith.
5.
Christian Theology. the trust in God and in His promises as made through Christ and the Scriptures by which humans are justified or saved.

Faith is a lot like the wind. You can feel it, hear it move through the trees, but you can't see it. Faith is not an easy term to grasp, but I would bet on one thing: We all have a faith of some kind. Even atheists who claim to believe in "nothing" believe in something. (That something simply being nothing)

If we look closely at the definition in part 2 the dictionary clearly explains that faith is a belief not based on proof. I want to challenge your thinking today. Do you really think God left no proof of His existence? Romans 1: 20 "For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God." NLT If we look closely at this verse we can see that God left proof for us through his creation--the earth in all its beauty.

We, being wonderful creations of God (Psalm 139:13-18), also have within each of us a yearning to know our creator. If we look a verse before Romans 1:20 we see that in Romans 1:19 "They know the truth about God because it is obvious to them." NLT I especially like the New American Standard Bible which translates that verse like this "because that which is known about God is evident within them [man]; for God made it evident to them." Have you ever found yourself wondering, there must be more than just this, just this single life that I have? I have wondered that. A few years ago (about 10) I remember having a deep longing in my heart for something I could not explain. I knew this feeling, emotion, whatever you want to call it was burning in my heart and I couldn't seem to find anything or anyone to fuel the flame. Then one day, I heard a man talking about this amazing God who loved me personally and wanted to fill that hole in my heart that no one or anything else could fill. I was blown away. There was something more... and this something more was God. You see, God gives us each a deep desire to know Him personally. God sent His Son Jesus, to this earth to live a perfect and sinless life, die a horrible death and then in three days raise from death to life to overcome the power of sin and death. Jesus went through all of this so that I could be forgiven of my sins. You see the amazing thing is God offered me a relationship with Him through Jesus but even more than that this relationship doesn't begin when we die, but when we accept Jesus as our Savior from this sinful nature we posses.


You see when we talk about faith we first understand that we posses within ourselves the very desire to know God and understand His nature. Let's take a look just a little deeper into Romans 1:20. The word understand as it is used in Romans 1:20 comes from the Greek word nŏiĕō (Pron. noy-eh´-o) means to exercise the mind (observe) to comprehend; consider. When we talk about this verse we can know that God exists and understand that He Himself is divine but we will never fully understand or observe and comprehend who He is personally unless we believe through faith that Jesus was the Son of God and that He came to bring us freedom from sin and the promise of eternal life.

Faith is very complex in word and deed but I want to encourage you there is only one way to get to God and Heaven and that is through Jesus. John 14:6 Jesus says "I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the father but through me." You may think well, I am a really good person and do a lot of good things, surely this is enough to get me to Heaven... Good works are not enough. Believing in Jesus is the only way. Freedom from sin and eternal punishment is available through Jesus and is a free gift from God that He offers through His amazing grace to all people. (Eph. 2:8-9) If you have been experiencing a void or longing in your heart and haven't found the answer to that longing, God wants you to turn to Him, believe in His Son Jesus, and commit to Him your life. It is so simple that it is mind boggling. But trust me, God offers this gift of deliverance from sin freely and He wants you to know Him personally.

This video from Nooma Productions featuring Rob Bells is a perfect example of what we are talking about. Check it:

I am always available if you need anything please don't hesitate to call or email. My information can be found at http://www.newlifexn.org/ on the left hand side of the page toward the bottom.

Until next week my dudes and dudettes LIVE LOUDER for God! :)





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