Tuesday, November 20, 2007

The Problem With Evil
From Podcast - Edge Youth - Grace Church
02-14-07
Rob Yandian

Apologetics - defending your faith.
What reason do we have to believe that God is out there? Look at the prophecies in the Old Testament and compare them to real events. Start with Daniel 11. There is evidence.

There is order to the universe so there is evidence of an intelligent creator.

There is evil, bad stuff happens to people who do not deserve it.

(Psa 14:1 KJV) To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none thatdoeth good.

Atheism comes from foolishness. An atheist believes that there is moral being watching over you so you can do what ever you want. We believe in a God who does see us and that we want to please.

God is all good and all powerful according to the Christians. Bad stuff happens. If God is all good would he want the bad stuff happen, could he make it stop. He is either not all good or all powerful, right? Either that or God is sadistic.

Good and evil some believe are opposites. There is some good in evil and some evil and good, like the ying-yang pictures that you see. Where did evil come from. Evil had to come into existence at some time as it is not equal to God. It did not came from Lucifer like we would like to believe.

First define evil. Does evil have substance? Light versus dark. Light has substance, but darkness does not. Dark is the removal of the light. What is cold, the absence of heat. Cold is a measurement of heat. Absolute zero is a total absence of heat. Evil is the absence of good. Anything evil is a lack of something good.

Joh 1:1-4 KJV
(1) In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
(2) The same was in the beginning with God.
(3) All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
(4) In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

Col 1:16 KJV
(16) For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:

God created evil. This does not mean that God is evil or wants bad things to happen to us. Evil is the absence of good, the absence of God Himself. God gave us a choice. We have to have at least things to choose from. It is either good (God) or evil (the absence of God). Satan chose the absence of God.

We are here to worship God. Is God an egomaniac? No. We can not out-give God at all. We are to worship Him and He is to bless us. If we did not have the choice to worship him, we would be nothing but robots. And that could mean nothing to God. It can only mean something to God, as it does to any parent, if it comes from the heart voluntarily.

Deu 30:19 KJV
(19) I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:

God's final exam. Choose one of the following: A)Life, B)Death. Hint, the answer is A.

Why is their evil in the first place? Adam made the choice to choose death. Every one since then has gotten that death in their life. Jesus came and undid all that Adam did.

Evil is here because we have the choice to go to the good or the evil. The worst that could happen is you could die an undeserved death. In that case you spend an eternity in heaven with God.

Unless otherwise noted, all scriptures are King James version. The notes are based on what I heard. They may or may not reflect what the speaker said.
As of this writing the message is available as part of a podcast. The sermon is available here

Monday, November 12, 2007

You Can't Lose For Winning
Loaded Dice 1
Bob Yandian

10/06/07

Dice are found in the word of God and we are playing with loaded dice.

Life works out when we follow God. God is in control.

Psalm 16: 5 The LORD is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot.

The word lot in the Old Testament is the Urim and Thurim that the priest would carry in a pouch over his heart. It is mentioned many times in the Old Testament, when dividing the land in particular. God guides us by the Holy Spirit which we keep in our heart.

Proverbs 16:33 The lot is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing thereof is of the LORD.

Nothing happens by circumstance. God is in control of the things in our life. There is no such thing as luck in the Christian life.

Deuteronomy 28

1And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth:
2And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God.

The simple pattern of the Christian Life. Do our best to follow the Lord and the blessings will over take you. If we do not know that we do wrong, then God takes care of it. We need not do the things that we know are wrong. Walk in what you know like the disciples who were told by Jesus at the Passover to go find a man with a water-pot and follow him. God had it planned for the man to be there when the disciples were there. God has it under control. Many old testaments figures had bad situations in their life like we would face. They all survived.


Ephesians 4:

11And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
12For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
13Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:
14That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;

We need to grow up and stop being deceived. Slight here is Greek word kubia, it is where we get the word dice (cube). We are in a crap game with Satan and men, and it is cunning craftiness, they are cheating.

Psalm 37:23 The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way.
When we delight in the Lord, God orders our steps. If not Satan does.

24Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand.
25I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.
God takes care of us. David most likely had times he thought he would be begging for bread but in the end as he reflected, he did not have that experience. God was taking care of things behind the scenes. Do what God asks you to do and you will have the same experiences.

Ruth was a Moabite woman, from a nation that was cursed by God.

Ruth 2
2And Ruth the Moabitess said unto Naomi, Let me now go to the field, and glean ears of corn after him in whose sight I shall find grace. And she said unto her, Go, my daughter.
3And she went, and came, and gleaned in the field after the reapers: and her hap was to light on a part of the field belonging unto Boaz, who was of the kindred of Elimelech.
She happened? Nothing just happens. She stumbles into the right place but she was guided by the Holy Spirit.

4And, behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and said unto the reapers, The LORD be with you. And they answered him, The LORD bless thee.
5Then said Boaz unto his servant that was set over the reapers, Whose damsel is this?
6And the servant that was set over the reapers answered and said, It is the Moabitish damsel that came back with Naomi out of the country of Moab:
She walked in and went to the field of Boaz and he just happened to walk in the house at a time to look at her and say who is that.

We need the know that the back story here is that Naomi and her husband left with their two sons to escape a famine. While there, the children married Moabite woman. Later they and their father died. Naomi tries to tell them to go back. Ruth chose to stay with Naomi. They returned to Bethlehem. Ruth being now dedicated to her mother-in-law and her religious beliefs.

We need to look back and see these divine interventions in our life like we can see them in the life of Ruth. Do your best to follow the will of God in your life. Learn to count you blessings. Naomi lost her two sons and her husband trying to escape a famine. The famine did not look so bad at that point. How you handle your hardships determine your future. Our success's are made of the ingredients of our struggles. Life is not easy but you are still standing.



Unless otherwise noted, all scriptures are King James version. The notes are based on what I heard. They may or may not reflect what the speaker said.

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Welcome to Rocky Land

Welcome to Rocky Land
Grace Fellowship
Al Poncel
10/03/2007

Five Biblical Principals from the Movie 'Rocky Balboa'

Round 1 - Great insults last a long time.

In the 1st movie there was a girl that insulted him. He meets her in this movie and they remember each other. He remembers her cause he told her to clean up her act and she called a bad name. She does not remember it, denies it and he replies that 'great insults last a long time.'

Proverbs 8:21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue: ...

Forgive is what we are encouraged to do. Words do not come back easy.

James 3: 10 Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing.
From the same mouth we can give good things and bad things. The bad things are what is remembered often.

Proverbs 25:11 A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.
Saying the right word at the right time is a great encouragement to people. We need more encouragement in the world.

James 3:6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity:
Fire reproduces itself as long as their is oxygen to feed it. A wrong hear attitude and a listening ear will fuel a tongue fire.

I Peter 2: Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings,
Clean house, the insults should not come from you.

Ephesians 4:29 Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.
Corrupt here could be defined as putrid (like something that someone has thrown up.

Round 2 - The older I get, the more I need to leave behind
The commission does not want to give him back his licence to fight back, as he leaves he says, 'the older I get, the more I need to leave behind."

Forgiveness, you need to learn how to forgive.
Offence, learn not to get offended.
Change.
Definition of dead is something that never changes.
Philippians 3:13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
Things are not constant in life. We change from child to teen to young adult to older adult. Life is journey that you did not volunteer for but that you were blessed to experience it. Life changes all the time.

Deuteronomy 1:6 The LORD our God spake unto us in Horeb, saying, Ye have dwelt long enough in this mount:
If you want to know something different than what you have, you have to do something different than what you are doing. Get out of the mountain and go through the valley to get to the next mountain. There is a time for things to happen. You need to get to new levels.

C = change
H = honest look at your self
A = action - do it.
N = Newness, what was is not better than what will be.
G = Growth, never is more common than unfulfilled potential
E = Eyes - get them on the future, do not be afraid to go slow, be afraid of stopping.

Philippians 3:13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,

Round 3 - Life is not about how had you can get hit, but how hard you can get hit and keep moving.
Son comes over during the fight and tells him how hard his life has been cause his life has been in his shadow. Rocky says ' Life is not about how had you can get hit, but how hard you can get hit and keep moving.'
The energy to retreat can be the same as to succeed.

1. When you get hit often you try to hit back
Rom 12:17 Recompense to no man evil for evil.
Prov 20:22 Say not thou, I will recompense evil; but wait on the LORD, and he shall save thee.

2. People put up a shell to keep people out.
3. Quit on life and run away.

James 2:
2My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;
3Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.

Look at Joseph's life. What would it have been if he gave up when his brothers sold him off.

Round 4 - the last thing to age is your heart
Rocky is in the hotel room and he is talking to a woman that he brefriended and helped her and her boy. She says to him while trying to encourage him, 'the last thing to age is your heart'.

Proverbs 4:23 Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.
Joshua 14:

6Then the children of Judah came unto Joshua in Gilgal: and Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite said unto him, Thou knowest the thing that the LORD said unto Moses the man of God concerning me and thee in Kadeshbarnea.
7Forty years old was I when Moses the servant of the LORD sent me from Kadeshbarnea to espy out the land; and I brought him word again as it was in mine heart.
8Nevertheless my brethren that went up with me made the heart of the people melt: but I wholly followed the LORD my God.
9And Moses sware on that day, saying, Surely the land whereon thy feet have trodden shall be thine inheritance, and thy children's for ever, because thou hast wholly followed the LORD my God.
10And now, behold, the LORD hath kept me alive, as he said, these forty and five years, even since the LORD spake this word unto Moses, while the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness: and now, lo, I am this day fourscore and five years old.
11As yet I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me: as my strength was then, even so is my strength now, for war, both to go out, and to come in.
12Now therefore give me this mountain, whereof the LORD spake in that day; for thou heardest in that day how the Anakims were there, and that the cities were great and fenced: if so be the LORD will be with me, then I shall be able to drive them out, as the LORD said.


God will give you something to conquer if you have the heart for it.
13And Joshua blessed him, and gave unto Caleb the son of Jephunneh Hebron for an inheritance.

Round 5 - I got to go out the way I got to go out
Last round, his son is telling him to stand back and just finish it. Rocky says ' I got to go out the way I got to go out.'

John 12:
23And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified.
24Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
25He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.
26If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.
27Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour.

It was for this moment that He came. Never say that you have nothing left to do. There is always more for you to do. God has called you to do what He called you to do, go out doing it.
II Timothy 4:7 I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:
Revelations 12:11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.

At the end, he does not win but they all applaud him. His son comes to him and says 'Dad, that was the greatest thing ever'. Will your children say that when you pass on to be with God? Your life is not over, there is so much more that you can do.

Unless otherwise noted, all scriptures are King James version. The notes are based on what I heard. They may or may not reflect what the speaker said.