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Popular Christian High School Graduation Songs

Do you remember your favorite songs form the year you graduated high school? If not you can always do a search on Google for the top music types of the year you graduated. I am sure that you will run across something that catches your attention and reminds you of sons played during your graduation, or at the celebrations after the ceremony.

Over the past few years, there has been a lot of negativity surrounding young folks talking about and/or sharing their faith in Christ from the stage or lectern. This is an unfortunate event considering that our country was founded on Christian principles and that we still hold to the right to free speech in our Constitution. But, instead of turning this into a political and/or cultural issue, let's look at some of the top Christian songs of 2008, especially the ones that appeal to the younger generation graduating this year.

The 39th annual GMA Dove awards was held in February 2008 and awards were given out for:

Song of the Year - Some of them included:
East to West - Casting Crowns
Amazing Grace - Chris Tomlin
Bring the Rain- Mercy Me
Give you Glory - Jeremy Camp
Made to Love - Toby Mac

Male vocalist of the year -

Read Full Article at:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/760451/popular_christian_high_school_graduation.html

Mother's Day - Right Around the Corner

Well...Mother's Day is right around the corner and we hope that you have already made plans, purchased items, and looked for ways that you can make her day as special as possible! Have you?

Well, if you haven't, you are not alone! There are many out there who due to busyness of life, competing priorities, and/or limited resources, have yet to even get a card for their wife or mother, let alone order a gift for her.

At Mother's Day Resources, you will find an article on FREE Mother's Day e-cards that you can send or even have scheduled to be sent to that special woman in your life. You can also do some shopping at the online store GIFTS FOR HER! and let her know what you have ordered for her just in case it will not make it there with shipping time frames.GIFTS FOR HER! has many items for your ease of mind (and easy to buy) such as:

• Apparel & Accessories
• Dresses
• Pants
• Shirts
• Undergarments
• Make-up
• Bath and Shower Items
• Perfumes
• Jewelry
• and MORE!!!
  

If you are a last minute person (which I am sure you are not! :)) check out the store, make a quick purchase, and put your receipt (At least) inside her card.

I wish you the best and hope that your wife and/or mom truly has a wonderful and blessed Mother's Day!

Could Jesus Have Sinned?

When I first came across this subject was after teaching Hebrews 2 to my Adult Bible Fellowship class and the questions was raised, “Could Jesus have chosen to sin?” After all He was tempted in all ways and yet without sin, right? How then could He completely understand and be our “High Priest” if the opportunity for Him to sin was not there?

This weighed heavily on my mind and I was greatly burdened on many fronts, one of those being seeking God’s will and guidance in how to portray His truths as I believe them to be based on Scripture and the study of other men of God throughout the ages.

The discussion we had concerning the peccability or impeccability of Christ was very lively and caused many of us to search Scripture, definitions, our own hearts, and through prayer. I felt that it was important for us to consider the Person of Jesus Christ in His entirety. Overall it is not relevant to salvation nor does it negate the fact that He is our merciful and faithful High Priest.

I think as human beings we tend to try and humanize Christ to have been exactly like us during His incarnation and I don’t think we can do that. I say that for several reasons:

o He is God. We are not.
o He is holy by nature. We may be considered holy only by association with Christ.
o He is just. We are unjust.
o He is sinless. We are sinners.
o He is infinite. We are finite.
o He is Omniscient – We are limited in our knowledge
o He was here at the laying of the foundations of the earth. We weren’t even created yet.
o He played a part in the overall plan of God. We know what he reveals to us through general and special revelation.
o He is the Creator. We are the creation.
o He is faithful. We are unfaithful.

There are many things that the more I learn the more I realize I don’t and will not have all the answers to and I am OK with that. That is where faith, hope and love come in play.

Hebrews 11:1-3 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. 2 For by it the elders obtained a good testimony. 3 By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.

Habukkuk 2:4 - “…But the just shall live by his faith.

1 Corinthians 2:4-5 – “And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human[a] wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

It is important to note that there are certain Christian essentials that are not and should not be debated. These are basic elements that make up and characterize our faith and separate it from other beliefs. All other items of Scripture can be debated by men but we must make sure that we do not get consumed in things that are not essential to our belief system.

Essential Christian Doctrine –


1. The authority of Scripture - which is another way of saying that the Bible is God's inspired, infallible, and inerrant Word. It's the ultimate source for knowledge about God, as well as the definitive guide for our daily lives.

2. Existence of a triune God or one God in three distinct persons - the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This God is self-existent, eternal, unchanging, omnipotent, omnipresent, holy, righteous, and loving. God created the universe from nothing and He rules over His creation sovereignly including both human and angelic beings.

3. Man is a physical and spiritual being who is created in God's image. But because of his sin or transgression, man has lost his fellowship with God. The extent of sin is so great that its effects continue to this very day in the form of cruelty, suffering, and death.

4. Jesus Christ - Who is fully God and fully man - was sent to save us from our bondage to sin. We believe that Christ was born of a virgin, died for our sins, physically rose from the dead, and will one day return to judge the world and deliver His people. Faith in Christ is the only means by which mankind can escape eternal damnation and judgment. He came by God’s grace (unmerited favor) and the salvation He provides is not based on anything we can do to earn it.

5. The church as God's ordained institution headed by Christ. The church is composed of all believers, and is organized for worship, for fellowship, for the administration of the sacraments, for spiritual growth and support, and for evangelizing the world.

A few of the questions I have had to ask myself and try to answer about this subject for the past week, which I hope will be valuable for you as well, include:

• Is Jesus Holy?
o Yes. Most definitely. So then what is holiness? Absence of evil. Positive righteousness and all measured against Himself as a positive standard.

• Is Jesus Immutable (Unchangeable) as the God-Man?
o Yes. Immutability is one of the unchanging characters of God.

• Could Jesus have changed the plan of God the Father and sinned thereby not being the unblemished lamb of God?
o No. He could not have. He came here to do His will, prophecy tells us that He would come here and there are hundreds of Bible prophecies concerning Jesus that were fulfilled in their entirety. Isaiah expounds that “He was wounded for OUR transgressions, He was bruised for OUR iniquities.”

• Is Bible prophecy about the Lamb incorrect? Could Jesus have been a spotted Lamb and become incapable of saving mankind?
o No. as He is the Messiah that Scripture has always pointed to and this was God’s plan BEFORE He even laid the foundations of the earth.

• Did Jesus actually express and demonstrate throughout Scripture many times that He came here not to do His Will but His Father’s will?
o Yes.

• Does Jesus share in the eternality of God, meaning has He always been as well as the Father and the Holy Spirit?
o Yes. If so, then He would have known the complete plan of the Father and that he would come here to experience life in the “likeness of men” and would be the unblemished Lamb sacrificed for the sins of all mankind. Only He could have performed this work for mankind.

• Is Jesus and His Father One?
o Yes. The triunity of the God-Head is shared throughout Scripture and He tells us so in Scripture such as John 10:30 - “I and My Father are One.”
o He also explains in John 8:58 – “Most assuredly I say to you before Abraham was, I AM.”

• What does it mean to come in the “likeness of men”? Does it mean an exact duplicate or just in a form of likeness?
o Likeness means sharing in the experience of flesh. Being hungry, tested, tired, sadness, pain, anguish, love, etc. Being fully God He could not relate in EXACTLY the same way as man because He could not sin.
o He was made in the likeness of men (See Jn. 1:14; Rom. 1:3; Gal. 4:4; Heb. 2:14, 17). This simple but absolutely staggering fact cannot be even remotely grasped by human minds. The Almighty God and Creator of the universe comes in the likeness of sinful flesh (yet without sin). The King of Kings came, not a king, but rather, as a lowly servant.

o J. Vernon McGee writes:
“He could have been born in the palace in Rome. He could have been born a Caesar. But God had already promised He would be in the line of David. ‘.… Have you ever noticed what Isaiah said concerning Him:
‘And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots’ (Isa. 11:1). For years that bothered me. I felt like saying, ‘Isaiah, you should have said out of the stem of David.’ I think if Isaiah could have spoken to me, he would have said, ‘Oh, how you fellows miss it. The stem comes out of Jesse!’ When Jesus was born, Israel was under the heel of Rome; the royal line of David was no longer on the throne, but had returned to peasantry. You see, Jesse, the father of King David, was a peasant, a farmer in Bethlehem. And when Jesus was born, the royal line was again in the peasant class. Jesus was born into a poor family. Though He was the Son of David, the stem came out of Jesse. He took upon Himself the form of a servant”

• Would His inability to sin make His being our merciful and faithful High Priest less than what it actually is?
o No. The fact that He came, left the riches of his kingdom…clothed Himself in flesh…and experienced the human experience beyond our comprehension…knew what it was like to be tempted/tested…experienced first hand the destructiveness of sin in the lives of His children makes a stronger case to me.
o The fact that His testing proved that he could not sin actually brings me much greater comfort and trust in Him as the Holy Creator of all things, knowing that he is NOT like me. His ways are far above my ways and His thoughts far above my thoughts.

• What did Jesus mean in John 8:29 where He says, “The Father has not left Me alone for I ALWAYS do the things that please Him.”?
o Would Christ have made that statement if He thought He might not do something that pleases Him?
o Would John the Baptist have called Him the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world if Jesus could have sinned? If He could have and would have sinned we would have no salvation!

• If Jesus emptied Himself of some Divine attributes in becoming 100% man as well as 100% God could that have made Himself susceptible to sin?
o It is important to understand that Christ never gave up His Divine attributes at all. To rid Himself or empty Himself of any of the divine attributes of God would nullify His Deity.
o Kenosis is the theological term related to the “divine emptying” of Jesus Christ. He chose to abstain from the use of certain attributes for a period of time but He never gave them up. Omniscience – All knowing, Omnipresent – everywhere at once, and Omnipotent – all powerful. o He did not consider it robbery to make Himself equal with God because He is God.

Excerpt from Wilmington’s Guide to the Bible -

Christ could not sin. There is no question concerning the fact that Jesus did not sin while on this earth, but could he have done so? Author W. E. Best writes:
“The point of view that Christ could sin is designated by the idea of peccability, and the fact that He could not sin is expressed by the term impeccability. To suggest the capability or possibility of sinning would disqualify Christ as Saviour, for a peccable Christ would mean a peccable God. Holiness is far more than the absence of sin; it is positive virtue. The advocates of peccability say, ‘Christ could have sinned, but He did not.’ To say that He could have sinned is to deny positive holiness. To deny positive holiness, therefore, is to deny the holy character of God. Holiness is positive virtue which has neither room for nor interest in sin. The Lord Jesus could not sin because the days of His flesh meant only addition of experience, not variation of character. Holy humanity was united to Deity in one indivisible person, the impeccable Christ. Jesus Christ cannot have more holiness because He is perfectly holy; He cannot have less holiness because He is unchangingly holy.” (Studies in the Person and Work of Jesus Christ, p. 3)
The question is asked, however: If Christ could not have sinned, then what was the purpose of the temptations in the wilderness? Here it should be observed that these trials were not to see if Christ would sin, but to prove he would not.”

So there you have it. You have The Scotsman’s view and study on the peccability vs. impeccability of Christ. You have also received some top notch information from theological minds including J. Vernon McGhee, W.E. Best, and information from Wilmington’s Guide to the Bible. I hope this is helpful for those of you who have in past, present or future will be pondering this idea and studying the Scriptures diligently. As a reminder, the passages indicated above are not exhaustive as there is much more that points to the attributes of God (Omnipotent, Omniscient, Omnipresent, Immutable), the view of kenosis (The “emptying” of Christ while manifested in the flesh), and His temptation and victory over death and sin.

Search the Scriptures my brethren and find all of the wonders and truths provided for us in the pages of Scripture. Make sure that before you do…pray! Pray for the illumination of the Holy Spirit to reveal His truth to you and that your minds would be clear from any other distractions. I will be praying for you!

-The Scotsman-
Galatians 2:20

How to Start Your Own Homeschool Group in Your Local Church

Lessons from those who have been there!
The Scotsman

Starting a homeschool group at your local church is a sizeable task and one that it is helpful to have a model to follow. There are some great resources out there on the Web, but to have materials at your disposal to use and adapt to save you from reinventing the wheel is always a welcome relief.

My wife and I have homeschooled our children from day one. We knew without a shadow of a doubt that the Lord had called us to homeschool our children and raise them in the fear and admonition of the Lord. It has been a wonderful experience, filled with both blessings and challenges along the way. Homeschooling is not easy, but is extremely rewarding knowing that you are the ones who taught your children how to read, write, mathematics, etc.

A number of years ago my wife and I were kind of thrust into the leadership of the local homeschool group that consisted of approximately six families and about 20 children. Within two years the group had grown to approximately 50 families and 160 children, full time leadership positions, weekly co-op, etc.

There was limited structure to the group and very little involvement from the fathers in the families for one reason or another. So, after a long period of prayer the Lord made it apparent that we needed to have a leadership group in place to make decisions collectively, pray for direction and assume specific responsibilities within the group. It was apparent that one person or even a single husband and wife team would have quite a challenge taking on the role by themselves. Besides, it is always best to have other perspectives, roles, information, talents, skills and abilities when making decisions of a magnitude that will affect a large group and several hundred people for years to come.

One of the first things we knew is that we needed to gain the support from our local church and the first step was to educate them about the homeschool group. Several things we needed to make sure they knew is that we were led that it was the perfect time to align ourselves with the church and to gain acceptance as an official ministry of the church so we could enjoy the same privileges and protections of an official ministry. A number of things that we put together included:

• Statement of Faith
• Bylaws
• Covenant
• Leadership Structure
• Future vision for the group
• Statistics
• Interest
• Outreach opportunities
• Etc.

Needless to say, our 2 year term as Chair of the group was quite rewarding but very hectic as we were making some massive changes and growing rapidly. I went to our church leadership with a packet to handout, a PowerPoint presentation (e-mail me for the presentation – FREE!) and a desire to do the Lord’s will, to explain our group and how we were hopeful to be an official ministry within the church. The response was very positive from the staff and was of a huge benefit for the group. We now insure that the pastoral staff is on the distribution list for monthly newsletters and information.


It is my prayer that this information, the attached presentation, and the leading of the Lord will enable you to realize you can do this, with God’s strength and in accordance with his will.

Please check back for future articles on development of a leadership group, formation of the bylaws, Officer’s roles and responsibilities, etc.

Does Your Church Need a Community Outreach Team?

When looking at innovative way to reach out to your community, do not overlook meeting the basic needs of your community. Community outreach is not always limited to reaching out to them with the gospel of Christ. It also means reaching out to them and providing basic needs, necessities, sense of community and showing love and hospitality to those around you.

I recently heard our Middle School pastor relate a story about a homeless man who used to come to our church regularly begging, coming for free meals on Wednesday nights, who was very antagonistic towards God and all Christian or "religious folk."

A month or so ago, a gentleman came to the church receptionist and asked to see our M.S. Pastor. The Pastor recognized the name but was having a hard time putting a face with a name. When he came down to see the man they engaged in polite conversation and the mans countenance completely changed. His eyes started welling up with tears and he inquired "You don't know who I am do you?" Our Pastor stated that he did not know who he was.

Well...he ended up telling the Pastor who he was and what the love shown to him by the church had done for him. He had turned his life over to the Lord and experienced the life changing love of Him. He mentioned that it was the love, patience and generosity of the people from our church. That even when he was antagonistic and ungrateful they continued to love on him and provide for his needs.

Tears were pouring down his face at this time when he further shared that now he had his own apartment, had a job, was getting ready to buy his own home and was a completely changed person. He just wanted to stop by and say thanks to those who spent time with him. Wow! We serve an awesome God and praise the Lord for his working in the lives of His children!

I share the above story with you as a demonstration of the needs of a community above our presenting the Gospel to them. So, when you are considering a Community Outreach Team or effort, consider all the needs and meet them where you can and where they will be most effective.

THE PLAN

• The Concept

Read Full Article at: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/713911/does_your_church_need_a_community_outreach.html

Ben Stein: EXPELLED

I just returned from watching Ben Stein's new controversial movie, Expelled. This movie was made to ensure that that American people had a better understanding of both secular view of the origins of life including Darwinism, Neo-Darwinism, intelligent Design and Creation. There are proponents on each side of the equation, who adamantly adhere to their own beliefs and understanding of how life started on earth.

Ben Stein took a somewhat lighthearted approach to engage academia from both sides of the fence, to get their opinions, ideas, beliefs and understandings on the table. Mr. Stein interviewed many doctors and professors of universities, biological scientists, and population geneticists from around the globe.

In my opinion, the movie was very well done and outlined the belief systems and the contemporary views of both Darwinistic evolution and Intelligent Design (ID). Both sides had a great opportunity to voice their opinions and answer questions related to their beliefs and scientific evidence for each.

It was interesting to see the concerted effort to "expel" Intelligent Design proponents from the scientific community. There were several scientists who were employed at very high level positions that had the audacity to say that Intelligent Design should at least be considered as there is as much, if not more, evidence for the plausibility of ID than there is for the theory of evolution. However, even with the evidence, ID scientists are being shunned, ostracized, fired and harassed for their positions.

Read Full Article at: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/725485/ben_stein_expelled.html