ExaMEN

Let us introduce you to the Family Ministry team

Tyler Nunn - Connections Pastor | Lonnie Free - Youth Pastor | Jonathan Freeman - Kids Pastor | (not aired) Branna Burns - Family Events and Spiritual Formations Director begin with intros and lead into a discussion of leadership from our community school leaders as they talk about leading your children through virtual education.

Panel Leaders:

This is a two part series for the Holy Spirit. 

We have been discussing why we believe what we believe. One thing we have discussed is a change in nature based on our actions and reactions. We believe in a second birth - one of water and one of the Spirit. There have been many ways people have tried to explain this portion of the Trinity, many have avoided the topic, and many still question who the Holy Spirit is, how He functions, and what is His purpose.

How do you gain access to the Holy Spirit?

Join in as Josh, Stephen, Tyler and Jonathan talk about what it looks like to be a disciple of Christ and pursue Him. In the episode, we talk about 

Much of our discussion comes after talking about Matthew when it says "Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness". It is difficult in a self-centered world to focus on Christ and HIs plan for our lives. To do that, without worry is tough. We want to encourage you to look more like Jesus each day for that is what God has called us toward. 

After our session, we talked about some people, books, and influences that helped shape us to who we are today in our faith walks. We want to encourage you to find those people in your life and give back to them by saying thank you. Look around you and bring people along that are beginning their walks or who are questioning what it means to walk with Christ.

Here are some of the influences we discussed:

Find us on instagram or facebook and ask if you would like a more exhaustive list of influences. Those listed above are a good start.

Have you ever heard of someone getting hurt by the Church? People walk away every year and possibly every day because they feel like the church isn't doing what they thought the church should be doing and MANY can back it up with facts. Truth be told, the church is a gathering of believers with like mission. Problem is... people's desires and hopes get in the way of what the church's responsibilities are. Listen as we discuss the church and how it should deal with sin. The core responsibility of the church is to seek to be blameless and to draw others into relationship with Christ. When that relationship has been broken, then it is to help others see how to restore that relationship - through the eyes of forgiveness.

Ways to ExaMEN (try before and after):

Carrying on our conversation from last time about sin, we wanted to take it a step further. It is easy to say what sin is, but "What's next?" or "What about me, who continues to still be in sin?"

We all wonder about the hope that is come through Jesus and His plan for us and our lives. Many trust God, but either get caught up in today's futures of being okay with certain sins or mess up and we lose trust that God is who He promises He is... Our Father. We may compare Him to an earthly father who wasn't as forgiving as our Heavenly Father, which is not a good picture for us to compare to and trust.

In today's episode, we ask some tight questions and give some beliefs that hopefully will begin to allow you to create discussions with others around you. Whether you are mentoring guys younger than you or you have a group of guys you are in contact with - bring up the topic and see what you come up with after discussing. A provoking question from this title was: IF SOMEONE CAME UP TO YOU AND YOU COULD ONLY GIVE THEM THREE THINGS OF ADVICE ON HOW LEAVE SIN BEHIND... WHAT DO YOU SAY? WHAT ADVICE DO YOU GIVE?

Here are some questions to think on yourself. Meditate or think about them, discuss with those around you, figure out answers for you do not know the day that someone will ask you and when you have examined your own beliefs and stances, it makes it a lot easier to share Biblically - rather than how you feel. 

The questions are as follows:

Take away: Amazing concept of grace - we cannot earn our own salvation.

Join us as we walk through sin - the reason we believe we needed Jesus from last week and why we choose Christianity.

This week we discuss what sin is in the forms of commission (commit an offense) or omission (we should have done something and chose not to. We spend some time talking about where we believe it came from and if we believe it is for all people. We asked whether people were in a fallen state and what that even meant. 

I (Jonathan) believe the most important part is when we talked about the consequences of our sin. Often hearing others wonder about suffering and punishment for sin and where that will happen - whether here and now on earth or a forward day. Then we wrapped up with talking about the out for sin. Our punishment is placed on Jesus.

Thoughts on how to examine based on this week - try to answer these questions and what does the Bible say about them:

Join us next week as we discuss what is after sin for us.

The highest probabilities that someone will walk in a belief system is experience. Many people in Alabama, where we reside, grow up with it in the home. Much like the reason a lot of kids choose to follow the sport's team that their dad championed - many believe in Christianity because their parents championed the morality of it. Thats not the case for everyone - not even everyone in our group. Listen as we give our backgrounds to faith - we go from a pastor's son to a later in life reality.

In this episode we talk about the meaning of Christianity as a whole. The basis is that you are becoming like Christ and choose to follow His teachings. Even when people get full understanding at times, situations lend to distrust and hurt and many choose to walk away from the faith they had their hearts set on before. We discuss why. 

In the podcast, we want to share some things that we stand firm on that makes hearing and believing easier for us. The crazy part - it is easier to sit and speak of this on a podcast & to travel around the world and share our faith than it is to go across the street. We challenge one another to do this more. Why? Because of the implication that occurs for those who do not believe.

We want you to learn about Christianity and why to believe. We want you to experience honesty in conversation. We want you to become a Christian - it is important to our lives, it is important to our families, and it is important for eternity.

Answer some of these as you examine:

Learn, Know and Experience Christ - it is life changing.

Why is it so important for people to believe in God?

Apologetics is the study and defense of a belief. We want to equip men to self-examine after hearing the podcast to understand why you believe some of the things of the Christian faith in order to talk to those around you and begin discussion with them - especially those of the next generation. Knowing God is the HIGHEST belief one can have. 

Today, Josh, Tyler, Thomas, Stephen, Shawn and Jonathan talk about God and his existence. 

Questions for you:

Anger, what a HOT topic. It can range from just being annoyed to lashing out against others in rage. While anger is a normal human emotion, when it is unchecked anger often leads to massive, sometimes irrevocable, problems in  interpersonal relationships, work and on general quality of life. People that have difficulty managing anger are susceptible to road rage, verbal and physical violence, and some may find themselves in legal trouble due to anger-fueled incidents.

From the Anger Management Report, 64% of people say the people seem to be getting angrier.

In today’s episode, we look at the origin of anger.

What does it look like?

Where does it come from?

What are the repercussions of anger?

Especially during this COVID-19 Quarantine mandate, the rates of child abuse, divorce, and domestic violence have risen.

How can you know when anger is coming from the wrong place?

Is there a right anger?

What are you defending when anger exists? Is it your own personal pride or social justices that better others’ well being?

Stemming from PRIDE and a need for CONTROL, anger entails. From sports, to the work place, to relationships, etc… The desire for control - when it comes to anger - makes you lose control.

The release comes from dying to self and forgiveness. Learning to evaluate yourself, your situations, and your surroundings - you can release anger when you learn to see things with the end in mind rather than the current situation.

We must learn to train ourselves to be angry with SIN and a LACK OF JUSTICE not the individual. People will be held accountable to their sins and we are not the judge. We are called to love our enemy, to pray for our enemy, and trust that the Lord will turn things for the good of those who love Him.

Challenge: ExaMEN yourself, are you harboring your struggles or are you giving forgiveness the same way you have been forgiven and want to be forgiven.

What if I were to tell you that your tongue was a direct reflection of your heart?

Proverbs 18:31 - Death and life are in the power of the tongue.

The tongue has a huge impact on our lives.

Many times they are used negatively through discouragement to tear people down.

From sports, business, bullying, lack of filter, gossip, slander, and lying.

A hard thing is that topic of lying…

How do you weigh between lying and discretion?

We may say they are little white lies, but churches face a big issue with acceptance and alignment with culture.

Living the truth and presenting it with a loving and kind way promotes encouragement, but harm comes when we choose to use truth for self gain.

When your heart is strong and you are in a good place, but when angry or out of sorts, our filters slip off. This makes us have to go back and use our mouths for apology in order to be reaccepted.

How does asking forgiveness make you feel?

Avoid it, don’t want to look wrong, easily comes, don’t care enough about relationships?

What things do you need to ask forgiveness for?

Positive words are important. They can grow kids away from being shy, they can bless a heart for someone who puts their joy in items, it makes people who feel like they could never do something succeed, and it can change you to do things because you are positive about yourself.

What do you do to practice positivity in your life/with your words?

The same tongue should not praise and curse… just like salty water and clean water does not flow from the same stream.

Challenge for this week: Watch your words and tongue and see what that reveals about your heart?