Faith Works Summer Devotions

Tonight we jump back into our timeline, covering the “Late Middle Ages.”  We’ll talk about the Black Plague, the rise of nationalism, a moment in history in which there were three popes (!), and some of the early reformers.  When everything falls apart we’ll see how God uses that to create a hunger for change and a desire for a true and more biblical faith. 

We’ve been doing “flyovers” of long stretches of church history in recent weeks.  Tonight, we get to shift gears a bit for a “special edition.”  With Saint Patrick’s Day on Friday, we’re going to cover the REAL story of Saint Patrick and Irish Christianity tonight.  Instead of going wide, we’ll go deeper into the story of one people group and one person.  It should be both fun and inspirational along the way.

Tonight we cover the “High Middle Ages” (1034-1303 AD) and we’ll tackle the Crusades, the rise of key monastic movements, and more.  As we go, we’ll continue to grapple with the tension between the power and influence of the church during the middle ages as contrasted with the biblical vision of the Kingdom of God given to us by Jesus.

We hope you are enjoying this taste of spring we are experiencing right now AND we hope that you’ll join us tonight as we move to the next time period in our study of church history.  Tonight we begin the “Early Middle Ages.”  What happened when the Roman Empire fell?  How did the church respond?  We’ll examine these questions and more as we look at God’s sovereignty over a very “messy” period of history.

This evening we’ll conclude the era of the “Christian Empire” with a closer look at the dynamics between the growing power of the church and theology.  As Christianity moved from a fringe religious movement to a mainstream religion, there were “wins” and “losses” when it came to the purity of the church.  It provides a lens for our own time, as we struggle to distinguish what is “true” biblically from what is popular or considered progressive.

Tonight, we see what happens when Christianity and worldly power mix for the first time.  We’ll talk about how it happened, what impact it had on the church, and we’ll reflect deeply on how easily the gospel message can be corrupted when we over-emphasize earthly kingdoms.  Join us as explore the age of the “Roman Christian Empire!"

Tonight we continue our journey through church history with the early church, part two.  We’ll closely examine several of the challenges to the faith that developed in the early centuries, better known as heresies.  It’s a good reminder that the gospel message has been under attack from very early in Christian history and that challenges to our core beliefs aren’t anything new.  Yet God used these attacks to clarify and strengthen the true church.  We are praying that your faith will be strengthened as well!

After a couple of foundational weeks, we start today our march through church history, beginning with the early church.  Many of us know about the Gospels, the apostles…but then what happened? Into what kind of world was our faith birthed?  What challenges did the first Christians face?  How did Christianity grow from about 120 people (Acts 1:14) to a worldwide movement within just a couple of hundred years?  Join us tonight as we explore how God moved and worked through the early church.

Tonight, we turn our attention to the history of the Bible – How did we get the Bible as we have it now?  As a pastor, this may be the one question I get the most.  There is a lot of sensationalism and poor scholarship out there that attempts to attack how the Bible came to be in its present form.  The truth, however, will grow your faith and give you even greater confidence that what we hold in our hands when we read the Bible today is indeed exactly what God inspired and preserved for His church.  Let’s talk about it tonight as we gather at 6:30 in the Worship Center.

You’ve probably heard these questions or asked them yourself: What happened after the end of the New Testament?  How did we get the Bible as we have it today?  Why is there an “Eastern” and a “Western” church?  Why are there “Catholics” and “Protestants?”  Why are there so many denominations in the United States? Church history gives us answers to these questions and many more.  Contrary to popular belief, church history isn’t just a dry and boring list of “dates and dead people.”  As believers, church history is our family history and like every family, we’ve had some serious ups and downs over the centuries.  But ultimately, church history is a story – a story of God’s faithfulness to every generation, a story of the tension we live in between the “now and the not yet,” and a story of ordinary people that God has used in extraordinary ways.  This semester, we’ll cover church history in a devotional format – in other words, we will certainly discuss the big events, key

After a close look at the doctrine of the church (last week’s handout on missions and evangelism is attached), our last two weeks will be full as we focus on eschatology, or the doctrine of “last things.”  This week our lens will be on what the Bible says about future worldwide events, including the return of Christ.  This is a topic that has been subject to much speculation and fear, so tonight we’ll focus on what the Bible makes clear and how we live in confident hope as our response.

Tonight we wrap up this section of our study on the doctrine of the church with a focus on missions and evangelism.  Just as in the past two weeks with our staff presenting, who better to have you learn from than our own missions minister Leigh Ann Swords?  You’ll be encouraged by the passion and depth with which she leads our outreach into our community and world!

Tonight we continue our study of systematic theology and ecclesiology with the doctrine of spiritual gifts.  Just as we had our own worship minister Luke Roman share with us last week on worship (the notes are attached), this week we have “special guest” as well.  Brandon Abbott serves as our connection minister and one of the things we teach on in the membership process is spiritual gifts.  Tonight Brandon is going to take us on a deeper dive into this important topic for the church and you won’t want to miss it!

We continue our study of the doctrine of the church tonight by continuing to look at what the church does.  Our focus this evening will be on worship.  As we’ll see, most of us have defined worship too narrowly and its vital that we have a biblical and robust understanding of why and how the church worships.  Here to help us will be a special “guest,” our own worship minister Luke Roman.  I can’t wait for you to hear from Luke!

Tonight we continue the Theology of the Church by talking about what the church does – the ordinances such as the Lord’s Supper, baptism, and practices like worship, discipleship, giving, fellowship (everyone’s favorite!), and more.

Last week, we looked at the nature, mark, and purposes of the New Testament church.  Tonight we get into the biblical principles of how churches function, govern, select leaders, engage members, and more!  This is one of the most practical nights of the entire semester because it challenges us to consider our understanding and involvement in the local church  Remember, we don’t go to church, we are the church!

Tonight we launch into the theology of the church.  As we say often, we don’t go to church, we ARE the church.  But what does that mean?  What’s the nature of the church?  What are the distinguishing marks of a true church (and how can you spot a false one)?  What is the church’s place in the world and how does it relate to the state?  We’ll cover these important questions and more tonight.

Isn’t it amazing to consider all that God has done is saving us?!  Our topic for tonight is “What is Eternal Life?” as we examine the doctrines of the perseverance of the saints, death, and glorification.  We pray you will be encouraged and leave with even greater hope in our future as God’s people than when you came in the door!

What do we believe as Christians? Each Wednesday, we'll be studying the core doctrines of the Christian faith including what we believe about the Bible, God, humanity, the Trinity, salvation, the church, and the future. This special study is led by Pastor Jay Strother and Brian Ball.

Join us as Brian continues in teaching on systematic theology.