Are we a part of a Church or a Family?

Recent studies have shown that the church in America is not growing. Are these studies true? One thing that seems to challenge this data is that there are church's who are adding more people and some of them are even building new and bigger buildings to hold these new people. So what is going on? Well, researchers have found that there are very few new believers in the American church and that the new people that are coming to churches are not new Christians, but people who are leaving other churches. People leave church's for all sorts of reasons. Sometimes they may not like the way things are being done so they jump ship. This may be doctrinal issue, leadership philosophy, or even something as simple as the style of worship music or the color of the carpet. This information forces us to ask the question, Are we a part of a church or a family? In a church it is common place move from place to place but is it that way in a family? Unfortunately divorce rates are high and many times the church mentality seems to prevail in marriages as well. What if this approach was applied to our children or our parents? We can't just go find another set of parents or get rid of our children and find new ones can we? Sadly, there is probably some data to be found that shows that people are actually trying to do this, but things do not need to be this way. How can we overcome this? If we look to the bible and see how God loves we will see that His love is unconditional. He loves us regardless of our sins and struggles. If we can love our brothers and sisters in our churches like God loves us we will then be on our way to overcoming the problem of moving from church to church and maybe then new believers will be added to our churches. So are we a part of a church or a family? The answer to this question is the church should be a family and seek to stick together through the good and the bad.

Community at WBC

April is community month here at WBC. Are you in a community group? We are not meant to follow Christ alone. The book of Genesis tells us that. Jesus also modeled a life of community with His disciples when He was on the earth. If we are to follow Jesus we need to live in community. This month we hope to encourage you to get involved in a community group here at WBC as we answer the following questions: Are we a part of a Church or a Family? Can a church be a Family? How do I join a Community group? The following pages will seek to briefly answer these questions for now please consider these words from the book of Acts. 42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. Acts 2:42-27

WBC Ministry Partner for March

Matt and Maggie Raines. The Raine's lead Frontier Camp Ministries in Grapeland, TX. Here are their prayer requests for the this month 1. Summer Camper Recruiting - God would move in hearts of children and their families and provide a way for campers to come. 2. Summer Staff Hiring - God would give discernment, enablement and provision. 3. Summer Camp Planning - wisdom and God's direction. 4. Spiritual Results for the coming summer - That God would transform lives. 5. Safety for the coming summer - protection for campers and staff on every level. 6. The year-round retreat ministry with over 40 groups a year and 4,000 people coming through the gates - God would continue to use Frontier Camp to impact many. 7. The full-time staff and their families - God's protection and provision. 8. Adoption process…our family is at the outset of adopting two children from Haiti! 9. Jacob’s Well Camp in Haiti—that the Haitian staff would begin using the camp for ministry in between times that American teams come and visit. 10. Angel Tree Week for children of prisoners…that cycles of sin would be broken and entire families would be brought into God's kingdom. 11. Summer Staff Discipleship/fellowship year-round - growth and encouragement. 12. Fossil Creek Camp fundraising…a new teen camp on our current property…specifically we have a challenge grant that we need to be met by April 30. 13. Fossil Creek construction…the new teen camp we hope to have ready for campers in summer 2014 - smooth process and timely completion. 14. Protection from environmental concerns such as extreme drought that might impact our ministry.

What do our dreams and aspirations have to do with experiencing the Resurrection of Christ on a daily basis?

A simple answer to this question is that it depends on the content of your dreams and aspirations. If you hope for the things of God then you are on the right track to experiencing real life with Christ on a daily basis. If you desire selfish or worldly things then you can hinder your ability to walking in the resurrection and newness of life. One of the struggles that Christians in America face to determining the content of our dreams is the constant thrust of the American Dream mentality. What is the content of the American Dream? Originally, the American dream was to provide hope for people to prosper equally despite there race or social status. This in itself is a good thing. Over the years this basic belief as evolved into a picture of married couple with kids and a house with hopes of being financially stable enough to retire from work at a reasonable age. All of these things seem ok to pursue, but are they really? What if God's will for you does not include you being married, having children, or owning a home? Is retirement a Biblical principle? Another part of this mentality that is popular in America is that if you believe in yourself enough or work hard enough that you can be anything that you want to be when you grow up. Is this true? Is this a biblical principle? Much of the content of the American Dream is in conflict to what the Bible teaches about what we are to put our hope in. Psalm 37:4 says... Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart. This verse does not say that God will give you what you desire. It says that God will give you what you desire if you desire God. It does not say that if you desire and follow God then you automatically get the American Dream fulfilled in your life. Instead, a person who desires God will get God and the blessings of God. What are the blessing of God? Psalm 1:1-3 says... Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the LORD, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers. This passage gives more insight on what the blessing of God are. Having the Bible as a source for how to live is a blessing of God. Another blessing of God is found in Psalm 16:5-6 that says... LORD, you alone are my portion and my cup; you make my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance. This psalm unfolds that another blessing of God is an eternal inheritance of being with God forever. Not a monetary fund that could run out or a retirement stage of life that ends in death, but an inheritance that lasts forever. So what should the content of our dreams be if we want to experience the resurrection on a daily basis? Seek God, His Bible, and the hope of seeing God face to face. Surely that is enough to pursue. Recently, in the fall out of the great recession on the economy there has been much written and debated about how the American Dream is dying. It may sound strange but if you are a Christian that may be a good thing. If the American dreams dies that is one less thing that Christians have to die to in order to keep their focus on Christ alone. One thing I ask from the LORD, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life to gaze on the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple. I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Psalm 27:4,13

The Resurrection

It is hard to believe that Spring is almost here. Spring is always a good representation of new life. Spring is also the season of the year that the church of Christ celebrates the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. This month at WBC we will focus on the truth of everlasting life that is found in Christ. As the month of March unfolds we hope to unpack the following ideas as we seek God's face together this month. Did the Resurrection of Jesus really happen? What do our dreams and aspirations have to do with experiencing the Resurrection of Christ on a daily basis? How can social media bog us down from experiencing the Resurrection on a daily basis? More to come. For now remember these words from Matthew 28:1-6 After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men. The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said.

PRAYER: Prayer will be the starting point and ongoing part of every aspect of the ministry of WBC. The above sentence was taken from the list of the core values of Waxahachie Bible Church. Prayer is also listed in one of the 16 vision statements of WBC. Here is what that statement says: We envision becoming a church where God’s people are committed to coming together for regular prayer gatherings. (James 5:16; II Chron. 7:14; Matt. 21:22; Acts 1:14; Acts 2:42; Romans 12:10-13. We are hoping to cast the vision of prayer to our church family beginning this February. There are many thoughts about prayer and many approaches that we could take to discuss it here. Some of these avenues involve engaging in huge discussions like why does God not answer my prayer or does prayer actually change anything? Over the next month we hope to make it clear that prayer may best be explained or defined by seeing it as closeness to God. Prayer is the way we stay near to God and what His will is for us. Seeing prayer as drawing near to God can help us answer many of the deeper questions this topic brings. Does God answer prayers? Yes, we are the answer to prayer. God is concerned about bringing us closer to Him. He answers every prayer in accordance to His will and what we need to make us closer to Him and His will for us. Does prayer change things? Yes, prayer changes how close we are to the will of God. God continues to bring us closer to His will by changing us through prayer. Sometime God may even change His will for us. (Exodus 32:14) Prayer is a practice of worship that we are commanded to do on an ongoing basis to be close to God, but prayer is also more necessary when we are need of basic health things or lost in sin and need to confess and repent from our selfish ways in order to be closer to God. James 4:8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

Is Hell a Real Place?

Before we answer this question lets look at a general historical overview of the topic. Hang on to your hat because this kind of topic can't be discussed without using some big words you may not be used to. Christian views on Hell vary, but in general traditionally agree that hell is a place or a state in which the souls of the unsaved suffer the consequences of sin. Different Hebrew and Greek words are translated as "hell" in most English-language Bibles. They include: •"Sheol" in the Hebrew Bible, and "Hades" in the New Testament. Many modern versions, such as the New International Version, translate Sheol as "grave" and simply transliterate "Hades". It is generally agreed that both sheol and hades do not typically refer to the place of eternal punishment, but to the grave, the temporary abode of the dead, the underworld. •"Gehenna" in the New Testament, where it is described as a place where both soul and body could be destroyed (Matthew 10:28) in "unquenchable fire" (Mark 9:43). The word is translated as either "hell" or "hell fire" in English versions. •The Greek verb "ταρταρῶ (tartarō)", which occurs once in the New Testament (in 2 Peter 2:4). It is almost always translated by a phrase such as "thrown down to hell". Exceptionally, the 2004 Holman Christian Standard Bible uses the word "Tartarus" and explains: "Tartarus is a Greek name for a subterranean place of divine punishment lower than Hades." Hell is generally defined as the eternal fate of unrepentant sinners after this life. Hell's character is inferred from biblical teaching, which has often been understood literally. Souls are said to pass into Hell by God's irrevocable judgment. In ancient Jewish belief, the dead were consigned to Sheol or the grave, to which all were sent indiscriminately (cf. Genesis 37:35; Numbers 16:30-33; Psalm 86:13; Ecclesiastes 9:10). Sheol was thought of as a place situated below the ground (cf. Ezek. 31:15), a place of darkness, silence and forgetfulness (cf. Job 10:21). By the third to second century BC, the idea had grown to encompass separate divisions in sheol for the righteous and wicked (cf. the Book of Enoch), and by the time of Jesus, some Jews had come to believe that those in Sheol awaited the Resurrection of the dead either in comfort (in the bosom of Abraham) or in torment. By at least the late rabbinical period, Gehenna was viewed as the place of ultimate punishment, exemplified by the rabbinical statement "the best of physicians are destined to Gehenna." (M. Kiddushin 4:14). The theological concept of hell, or eternal damnation, is expressed differently in Eastern and Western Christianity. The Eastern Orthodox church teaches that Heaven and Hell are being in God's presence which is being with God and seeing God, and that there no such place as where God is not, nor is Hell taught in the East as separation from God.[31] One expression of the Eastern teaching is that hell and heaven are being in God's presence, as this presence is punishment and paradise depending on the person's spiritual state in that presence. For one who hates God, to be in the presence of God eternally would be the gravest suffering. In Roman Catholicism The Catechism of the Catholic Church (which, when published in 1992, Pope John Paul II declared to be "a sure norm for teaching the faith",), defines hell as a state involving definitive self-exclusion from communion with God. The varying Protestant views of "hell", both in relation to Hades (i.e., the abode of the dead) and Gehenna (i.e., the destination of the wicked), are largely a function of the varying Protestant views on the intermediate state between death and resurrection; and different views on the immortality of the soul or the alternative, the mortality of the soul. For example John Calvin, who believed in conscious existence after death, had a very different concept of hell (Hades and Gehenna) to Martin Luther who held that death was sleep. In most Protestant traditions, Hell is the place created by God for the punishment of the devil and fallen angels (cf. Matthew 25:41), and those whose names are not written in the book of life (cf. Revelation 20:15). It is the final destiny of every person who does not receive salvation, where they will be punished for their sins. People will be consigned to Hell after the last judgment. One historic Protestant view of Hell, called the eternal torment view is expressed in the Westminster Confession (1646): "but the wicked, who know not God, and obey not the gospel of Jesus Christ, shall be cast into eternal torments, and punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power." (Chapter XXXIII, Of the Last Judgment) The majority of Protestants have held that hell will be a place of unending conscious torment, both physical and spiritual, although some recent writers such as Anglo-Catholic C. S. Lewis and J.P. Moreland have cast hell in terms of "eternal separation" from God. Certain biblical texts have led some theologians to the conclusion that punishment in hell, though eternal and irrevocable, will be proportional to the deeds of each soul (e.g. Matthew 10:15, Luke 12:46-48. A minority of Protestants believe in the doctrine of conditional immortality, which teaches that those sent to Hell will not experience eternal conscious punishment, but instead will be extinguished or annihilated after a period of "limited conscious punishment". Prominent evangelical theologians who have adopted conditionalist beliefs include John Wenham, Edward Fudge, Clark Pinnock and John Stott. Now that we have looked at a general historical overview about hell let us now get back to the question is hell a real place? Simple answer is yes. Hell is a real place. In case you confused and need clarity here is what our Waxahachie Bible Church doctrinal statement says about hell. This is what we believe about hell: We believe that God created a great number of angels; that the greatest angel become proud and rebelled and is called Satan; that with the other angels who rebelled with him, called demons, he is seeking to destroy the kingdom of God. We believe that Satan was defeated at the cross and will be condemned to everlasting punishment at the end of the age. Revelations 12:3-9, Isaiah 14:12-17, Ezek. 28:11-19, Eph. 6:11-12, Col. 2:15, Rev. 20:10. We believe that God created the universe and created man in His own image; that all men have sinned in the transgression of Adam as well as in personal experience; that they are dead in sin, and, apart from the grace of God, are totally lost and on their way to everlasting separation from God in “the lake of fire.” Genesis 1:26, Romans 5:15-19, Eph. 2:1-3, Romans 6:23, Rev. 20:14-15. We believe in the bodily resurrection of the just and the unjust, the everlasting blessedness of the saved in glory and the everlasting punishment of the lost. Dan. 12:2, John 5:28 -29, Luke 16:19 -26, Phil. 1:23, Rev. 20:10 -15.