Pastor Bob Fox
Deuteronomy 6:6-12

How do we bring godliness to those we love? That is an urgent question because there is no more important element of our legacy. Here are three ideas to guide us in this quest.

1. Living God’s way must be our conviction and passion not just something we affirm.
• If it is, it will flow from us to those we love, in a loving way.
• If it is not, godliness in our family will be contrived, forced, awkward and resisted.

THEREFORE godliness for those we love must start in us.

2. We can and must “impress” godliness on those entrusted to us. This requires precision, repetition, and practicality. So we should be bold and intentional. Here are three practical guidelines.
• Make truth discussions normal. (i.e. at dinner, in the car, while watching TV, after movies, at bed time). Don’t compartmentalize them.
• Engage the family in all that advances the truth in others (i.e. being credible, prayer, sharing truth, church, Bible study).
• Strategically place truth reminders in their lives (i.e. decor, music, current tech avenues).
3. Normalcy and stability are good things to provide, but they provide fertile soil for spiritual apathy. Spot it as it sprouts and spray it!

Listen to Bob.

Pastor Bob Fox
Genesis 3:14-19

Marriage may be an agreement to share life, but healthy marriage develops as we share ourselves. When evil entered the human stream, it began to inhibit this.

Evil’s Big Impact―or why no marriage will just “work.”

1. Evil changed humanity from being God-centered to being self-centered.
2. As self-centered humans damaged each other, they became more self-centered.
3. Self-centeredness caused wives to become their husband’s rival.
4. Self-centeredness caused husbands to become self-absorbed rulers.

THEREFORE: Marriage will tend to get less fulfilling and more unhealthy as time goes by if we simply behave “naturally.”

God’s Solution in a word is “salvation.” To those who believe it freely provides:

1. Forgiveness, so we can be restored to friendship with God.
2. A process for healing of old wounds and thought patterns.
3. Moment by moment impetus and power for selflessness.
4. Knowledge and wisdomóa written standard by which thinking and courses of action are shaped.
5. Community―other relationships for mutual support in the journey away from instinctive living.

The Potential―to die to ourselves.

1. God’s salvation enables us to grow in our trust of Him and be less self-absorbed.
2. Each spurt of growth in trust enables us to trust and love as we should.
3. Marriage can become fulfilling for all.

Listen to Bob.

Another one of the questions we have received since many of you began the READ the BIBLE in One Year. We thought we would post it along with an answer from one of our Elders.

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Why did God, when addressing the Serpent specifically use the word “her” in the phrase in Genesis 3:15, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers;”?

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In the bulk of the passage, God is addressing the three ‘offenders’; Satan, the Woman, and the Man. There were consequences for each of them. One of the principles of interpretation here is to NOT assume an unwarranted exclusion, based on the use of the word. In other words, God wasn’t saying that there wouldn’t be enmity between Satan and the man’s offspring. He could have used the words ‘their seeds.’ He just chose to focus on the enmity between the woman’s offspring and Satan.

Why, though? In my view, at least two reasons. First, according to the text, Satan and the woman were in a conversation that resulted in the woman being deceived. Adam was apparently there, so he has full responsibility, but it seems that Satan deceived Eve, and Adam, watching his wife eat, took the fruit too, knowing that it had been forbidden by God to do so. So the order of the course of events was Satan deceived Eve, Eve disobeyed, and Adam disobeyed. In Hebrew, order is very important. Thus, when God handed out the consequences, Satan was first, Eve came second, and Adam followed.

There is another reason that I think has prophetic implications. The balance of the verse is And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”

The ‘who’ in the offspring is significant. Eve’s offspring was first Cain, then all of humanity that followed out of her ’seed’, including Jesus….and including all of those that follow Christ, like you and me. The ‘enmity’ is there between the children of God and Satan. As to the ‘head crushing’…the ‘he’ in that is Jesus.

So, putting it all together, the offspring of Eve would continually be in conflict with Satan. Eventually, out of that offspring, Jesus would come and, despite a ‘flesh wound’ that is not permanently fatal (such as a heel injury, not to a vital organ…..and perhaps an early illusion to the nails through the feet on the cross), Jesus will deliver the fatal blow to Satan as he is ultimately cast into the Lake of Fire.

Finally, in Hebrew tradition, the blood line of a people is traced through the mother. The genealogy of Jesus is traced both through Mary’s lineage and through Joseph’s in the Gospels. Another reason that God probably chose to use the phrase, “her seed”.

Paul Klimke

This is one of the questions we have received since many of you began the READ the BIBLE in One Year. We thought we would post it along with an answer from one of our Elders.

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Genesis 2:2-3: In these verses it says that on the 7th day, God rested and he blessed it and made it holy. With Sunday being the first day of the week, why do we worship and keep Sunday holy? Please help me understand this.

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The pattern God set in Genesis 2 of alternating periods of work and rest became the pattern for the nation of Israel in the Old Testament. The command to observe the Sabbath day was given to Israel to teach them to honor God as holy and to trust Him for their needs (Exodus 16:22-30; 20:9-11 ― note: this will open the passage in a new window.) This command and the whole Old Testament law pointed forward to Christ.

Now that Christ has come, fulfilling the law, we as Christians are no longer under the law but under grace. Regarding the sabbath Paul says in Romans 14:5-8: “One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.  He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord.” And Paul also states in Colossians 2:16 and 17: “Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.”

All of this means that we are no longer required to observe the Sabbath laws though it is still wise to maintain a weekly pattern of work and rest. Moreover, the New Testemant does command us to meet regularly in a local assembly (i.e. the local church). Very early in the Church’s history they began meeting on the first day of the week instead of the seventh to commemorate Christ’s resurrection, which was on the first day of the week. This is why we meet on Sunday rather than Saturday. It is important, however, to remember that everyday belongs to the Lord, so that no matter what we are doing, whether worship, work or play, we do these things as unto the Lord.

Richard Weisenburger

This is one of the questions we have received since many of you began the READ the BIBLE in One Year. We thought we would post it along with an answer from one of our staff.

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I have been meaning to ask this for the past week or so. I was wondering what the Biblical Community feels about Pangaea and the idea that a single land mass over time became the 7 continents that we see today.

This is being taught to my kids (and I am sure others) and I was curious how that might be explained through God’s creation and the disbursement of population with different languages throughout the world as explained in Genesis.

Any references would be greatly appreciated.

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There are a number of different views on Pangaea from a Christian perspective, but most are just speculation and theories. There are arguments that Pangaea could have existed, then been divided during the flood, which would have caused enormous continental shifts.

Genesis 1:9-10 reveals that God gathered and separated water and land from each other, suggesting also that the land and water were in one place together. (And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.)

The verse in Genesis 10:25 about the earth being divided in Peleg’s day has been debated as well (it could refer to continental shift or perhaps the Tower of Babel event in Genesis 11). Christians believing in an old earth, i.e., the earth is millions, if not billions, of years old, likely don’t have an issue with the concept. Christians believing in a young earth, i.e., the earth is a few thousand years old, will have some issues and explanations to explain continental shifts.

Here are a few websites I found that could be helpful and provide a variety of explanations:

• http://www.gotquestions.org/pangea-theory.html
• http://www.creationscience.com/onlinebook/FAQ216.html#wp2930663
• http://creationontheweb.com/images/pdfs/cabook/chapter11.pdf

Personally, I can see how the existence of Pangaea can be coherent with the truths taught in Scripture, but I am definitely not an expert on the subject.

In Christ,

Joel Mayward
Director of Junior High

Pastor Preston Hancock
1 Peter 1:22-25

1. Why learning to adapt well matters
1. There are two ways of adapting to life’s “curveballs:” one that serves others and one that is self-serving.
2. When we don’t learn to adapt well, we short-circuit God’s best for our families and can even create divisions.
2. Two Keys to Adapting to Changing Circumstances
1. Finding God’s Plan for “the Moment.”
• Recognize that you are God’s agent for change in your family.
• Ask the Lord help you determine together what is truly best.
• Decide to work with your family willingly, with all you’ve got, and with their best in mind!
2. Trusting in God’s Work in You and for You
• Be ready to leave behind old ways of dealing with life’s changes; you are a new creation in Christ!
• Even should the process becomes frustrating, know that God’s life-giving power is at work in you and your family.

Listen to Preston.

Pastor Bob Fox
Genesis 3:1-13

1. Post-mortem of a Trust Crisis
• Trust issues always arise, even in the most ideal relationships.
• A violation of trust has roots both inside and outside of us.
• Trust is usually broken because we think it will “work” for us.
• When we distrust God, boundaries of trust and distrust become blurred and distrust spreads.
2. The Aftermath; or, what every person brings into relationships
• Compensation-behavior that alleviates shame.
• Fear-anticipation of more loss.
• Hiding-defense against more hurt.
• Blaming-finding weakness in others to cope with our own.
3. Building or Rebuilding Trust―Others will trust me when they see that:
• I talk about my “personal aftermath.”
• I am properly moved by the feelings of others.
• Their life details matter to me.
• I take very intentional steps to foster and protect their trust in me.
• I initiate sacrifice where stalemates develop.
• I stop in my tracks when God speaks.

Listen to Bob.

Pastor Carlyle Naylor

I recently answered this question via email and I thought I would post it for all to read.

The reason we don’t observe Communion on Sunday mornings is two-fold.

The first reason has to do with who is supposed to take Communion ― believers in Christ as the means for their salvation. On any given Sunday morning, we expect (and do receive) visitors ― not just to our church, but to Jesus. What I mean is that people come on Sunday morning who are seeking God ― or Christ and may not be “saved” yet.

They may not have come to a point in their faith where they have acknowledged their need for Christ as the Savior of their soul and life. Scripture is clear that Communion is an act of worship for believers (1 Corinthians 11:28-29). We don’t want to put anyone in a position to take Communion when they may not be clear about what they are observing/participating in or they may feel a little awkward for not knowing and feel some pressure to participate anyway.

The other reason is that taking Communion should be a deliberate act of worship and not routine. We try to make Communion more deliberate and not an add-on to the Sunday morning worship experience ― since the goal of Sunday morning is different. We pay particular attention to Communion by having a dedicated service where we are ushered into a more intimate time of worship with Christ as we focus more intently on His sacrifice for us and what that can mean for how we live our lives now.

I hope this helps. We have Communion the first Sunday might of each month ― unless that day falls on a holiday (or Superbowl Sunday ― because few attend).

Pastor Carlyle Naylor

Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.―John 17:17-19 (NIV)

Sanctify has a dual meaning

• Made holy—Designated as holy
• Consecrated—devoted to holiness

In Verse 19—Jesus said he sanctified himself for us. He who was already holy made himself more holy—by devoting himself to His holiness through the act of death on the cross

In light of verse 15—he prayed for—non-slippage. In verse 17, He prays for completion or devotion to becoming more and more holy.

Listen to Carlyle.