Tri-Youth

Filling An Empty Life

January 27, 2012 | by Dmitriy Belous | Category: English Thursdays No Comments

Many people in this world feel empty, but that should not surprise us, because they do not know Jesus Christ personally. However, how do we deal with emptiness among believers? How do we deal with emptiness in our own lives? This English Thursday was more a discussion with answers and thoughts provided by the youth. The main take-aways for dealing with our emptiness were:

1. Get close with God – “Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you…” (James 4:8) Seek Him, pray to Him, read His Word, invest your time and effort into your relationship with Jesus Christ.
2. Look honestly and repent of wrong priorities – Jesus in Matthew 13:3-9,22 talks about the seed that was choked out by the thorns, which, as Jesus explains, are “cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches”. Wrong prorities and persuits of cares of this world and riches push out real closeness with Jesus Christ.
3. Clear your life of activities and goals that distract you from deeper relationship with Christ.

How do you battle emptiness in your life? How do you “connect” with God?

Podcast: Download (Duration: 43:01 — 12.3MB)

Heart and Joy

December 16, 2011 | by Gennadiy Glabets | Category: English Thursdays No Comments

Have we ever took the time to consider the words of a well known Christmas hymn by Isaac Watts “Joy to the World”?

Joy to the world, the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing.

These were not merely a collection of positive words that Watts was using in his hymn. There is something deeply theological behind the things he said regarding our hearts, our joy and the time of Christmas.

This youth Bible study explored this connection in great detail.

In a nutshell:

1. Joy to the world – there is a connection between music and joy (Psalm 28:7, 33:3, 47:1).
2. Let every heart prepare Him room – there is connection between our hearts and what flows out of our mouths, e.g., our joy (Eph.5:19, Col.3:16 and Mat.15:16, Lk.6:45).
3. And Heaven and nature sing – there is a path that joy takes in the hearts of people – it flows out (Lk.19:37-40).

Podcast: Download (Duration: 37:22 — 10.7MB)

Confession, Part 2

October 28, 2011 | by Dmitriy Belous | Category: English Thursdays No Comments

God created us with ability to sense right from wrong. This ability is called conscience. People who committed sin know what it is like to feel the burden of the guilty conscience. David, for one, after he has sinned with Bathsheba, cried out in Psalm 32:3-4: “When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night Your hand was heavy on me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer.”

The remedy for the guilty conscience is the confession – acknowledgement, agreement with – of our sin before God. David, in the same Psalm, continues, “Then I acknowledged my sin to You and did not cover up my iniquity.” By confessing his sin David was able to restore his peace with God. We are called to do the same!

Generally speaking, there can be tree types of confessions depending on the sin committed:

1. Private confession – the sin that has been committed against God has to be confessed before God.
2. Personal confession – the sin committed against our brother or sister in Christ (gossiping, hurting some, etc.) needs to be also confessed before the same brother or sister. In Matthew 5:24 Jesus says “go and be reconciled to them”.
3. Public confession – the sin committed against the church (something that damages the reputation of the church among non-believing community for example), in addition to being confessed before God, also needs to be confessed before the church.
   

Podcast: Download (Duration: 43:55 — 12.6MB)

Naaman’s Road

September 30, 2011 | by Gennadiy Glabets | Category: English Thursdays 1 Comment

In Wilmington, Delaware there is a road called Naaman’s Road. For most people it’s just a road named after some guy, just like some Washington Road or Jefferson Street. But what is interesting is that Bible speaks about a certain character named Naaman, a proud, strong, wealthy, yet covered with leprosy man. He had to take a road, which did not pass through Delaware, but through God’s school of humility. At one point he almost chose leprosy over healing, simply because this school of humility seemed so difficult to him. But ultimately, to be healed from leprosy, he had to lay aside his pride: his grand expectations of the healing miracle, his concern for his status, his patriotism for his country. He had to take Naaman’s road!

Perhaps you are seeking God’s will in some situation in your life. Maybe you want to be able to forgive someone. Maybe you want to restore certain relations. Maybe there is a decision you want to make. It is possible that God already answered your prayer and told you what you ought to do. But the problem is, like Naaman, you are not willing to take your road to healing. You don’t like God’s answer, it’s not what you expected. Your pride might be getting in the way.

May God help each one of us take those roads in His strength. It really is impossible on our own!

Podcast: Download (Duration: 35:28 — 10.2MB)

Tactics, Part 5

August 12, 2011 | by Vitalik Glotov | Category: English Thursdays No Comments

At times, when we have a conversation with people who do not share our Christian faith, and we get lost in the conversation or start feeling uncomfortable. But Bible teaches us that we are the ambassadors of Christ (2Cor.5:20), and so we need to give an answer to anyone inquiring about our faith (1Pet.3:15). Jesus also teaches us to be “wise as serpents and innocent as doves” (Mat.10:16). The purpose of this whole series is to teach us to feel comfortable in sharing our Christian faith, and to steer the conversation in the right direction.

This is the fifth part of the series. At the beginning we reviewed previous three steps of the Columbo tactic, and then dove into the details of the third step: exposing your opponent’s weaknesses. There are two basic approaches: hard approach which directly exposes the inconsistencies of the opponent’s arguments, and soft approach which offers an alternative view and invites the person to explore it with you.

P.S. Once, this is one of those “out of schedule” English Thursdays. We didn’t plan it, it just happened!

Podcast: Download (Duration: 46:03 — 13.2MB)

Rules to Read the Bible

July 8, 2011 | by Dmitriy Belous | Category: English Thursdays No Comments

Imagine going to a museum and looking at the paintings on your own. It’s one experience, and unless you are an art fan, it will not be very exciting or insightful. But imagine going to the same museum with a guide who will direct your attention to certain details, who will tell you some background information, and in general will make the painting come alive. While this is not a perfect comparison, but reading a Bible can be of a similar experience: details and backgrounds need to be looked at and understood, contexts need to be studied and so on. In this Bible Study we cover seven rules for studying your Bible.

1. Read Bible repeatedly — finished with the whole Bible? Go back and read it again. And again. And again. Every time you read through it new depths will open up to you.
2. Read Bible thoughtfully — don’t just read for the sake of reading. Think about what you read.
3. Read Bible patiently — some passages don’t make sense right away. Some can seem boring or monotonous initially. Gather up your patience and continue reading on. You will encounter much blessing along the way!
4. Read Bible selectively — and by selectively we mean picking out all the right pieces to construct a full picture of the passage. To help with this type of reading it is good to ask six W’s: who, what, when, where, why, and wherefore.
5. Read Bible prayerfully — as you read, apply what you have read to yourself in prayers. If David in his Psalm says the Lord is his Shepherd, you can pray, “Thank you, Lord, that you are my Shepherd as well!”
6. Read Bible reflectively — apply what you have read to your own life. Reflect on your current circumstances, struggles, questions, blessings and see how God’s Word brings light into these situations.
7. Read Bible purposefully — 2 Tim. 3:16 says that all Scripture is profitable. It’s profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness. Have these things as your goals for your Bible studies.

May God bless you in your reading of His Word!

How do you read Bible? What have you found that works for you? What does not work? Please share with us by using “Comments”.

PS. Technically it wasn’t English Thursday, but since most of it (like 99.9%) is in English. I decided to file it under English Thursdays.

Podcast: Download (Duration: 44:26 — 12.7MB)

What God Expects of Us

June 10, 2011 | by John Loo | Category: English Thursdays No Comments

Imagine you come hungry to a restaurant and expect to get some good service and food, but instead you find the place to be in chaos. There is food on the floor. Chairs and tables are not clean. Servers are sitting around and doing nothing. In disgust you would probably leave that place. Why? Because you have expectations of what a restaurant should be. We all have expectations, and not only about restaurants, but about pretty much everything in our lives. And guess what? God also has expectations. And He has some expectations from us as well.

He has shown you, O man, what is good;
And what does the LORD require of you
But to do justly,
To love mercy,
And to walk humbly with your God? –Micah 6:8

This Thursday Bible Study, presented by our friend from Pensacola Christian College – John, dives into details of these expectations that God has for us.

Podcast: Download (Duration: 29:46 — 8.5MB)

Confession

May 29, 2011 | by Dmitriy Belous | Category: English Thursdays No Comments

While visiting a prison in Potsdam, King Frederick William listened to a number of pleas for pardon. All the inmates swore that prejudiced judges, perjured witnesses, or unscrupulous lawyers were responsible for their imprisonment. From cell to cell the same story of wronged innocence continued.

But at one cell the inmate had nothing to say. Surprised, Frederick joked, “I suppose you are innocent too.”

“No your Majesty,” the man answered, “I am guilty and richly deserve all that I get.”

The king turned to the guard and called out loudly, “Come and release this rascal quickly, before he corrupts this fine lot of innocent people.”

So what is confession, positively stated? Last English Thursday in the question The Wall Between Men and God a list of what confession is NOT was listed. This time, what confession IS was given:

1. Confession is when you stop lying to yourself
2. Confession is when you stop covering up for yourself
3. Confession is when you start calling sin a sin
4. Confession is part of repentance, which is a change of your mind set, a change of your direction

PS. We are continuing to experiment with audio settings. If you have listened to this file, please leave your opinion of the quality of this audio recording. Many thanks!

Podcast: Download (Duration: 34:51 — 10.0MB)

The Wall Between Men and God

April 29, 2011 | by Dmitriy Belous | Category: English Thursdays, Q and A No Comments

Question: the wall between men and God, how do you overcome it?

Answer: there are possibly two main reasons why people have a wall between them and God. These are legitimate reasons for not having an open relationship with God.

1. Person is not saved
2. Person has sin in his or her life

Apart from these two reasons, there also might be a feeling of having a wall between you and God. There is no actual wall, but there is a misunderstanding of forgiveness, or, in other words, wrong understanding of confession.

So what is confession? Bible says “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9)

But before we go into details on what confession is, here are seven points on what confession is NOT:

1. It is not a conversation with a priest in a confession booth
2. It is not a list of actions to make up for your sin
3. It is not a speculation of being forgiven or not
4. It is not a bargain where you give up something to get forgiveness in return
5. It is not an emotional release
6. It is not worm theology (ew, worm theology, what is that? it is like a pride of being sinful)
7. It is not failing someone’s standard

Answers to what confession actually is will be covered next month.

Podcast: Download (Duration: 46:46 — 13.4MB)

Seven Steps to Perfect Dating, Part 3

April 1, 2011 | by Dmitriy Belous | Category: English Thursdays, Thursdays No Comments

Dating can be one of the greatest or one of the worst experiences in your life. Doing it God’s way according to God’s Word can bring joy and delight. Remember, dating is a gift from God, but Satan has his way of counterfeiting, distorting, and destroying that which can be good and enjoyable. By following these steps, you will look back on your dating (that is if you are not married already) with gratitude and not regret!

Большая часть общения была посвящена теме взаимоотношений между Христианами и не-христианами. По каким причинам мы считаем это не позволительным? А что насчет возражений которые часто выдвигаются против этой точки зрения? Эта часть общения была в основном на Русском языке.

Second part of this discussion was in English and dealt with the very last steps of the dating series. So, you realized that relationship you are in is not from God, what do you do now? You need to break up. But how to do in a Godly manner.

Download the blank handout in PDF format:
Seven Steps to Perfect Dating Handout (Blank) (96)

Download the answer key in PDF format:
Seven Steps to Perfect Dating Handout (Answer Key) (93)

Podcast: Download (Duration: 47:42 — 13.6MB)