Manchester Youth

Are you in the storm? Not the physical kind of storm that New Hampshire underwent only a few days ago, but the spiritual kind of storm. As one preacher once said, everyone is either approaching a storm, going through the storm, or getting out of the storm at this very moment in life. And as crazy as it may sound, but those storms are a display of God’s love for us, just as the storm in Mark 4:35-51 was a display of God’s love.

For this month’s English Thursday we had Jan, pastor of Grace Church in Boston, MA, visit us and share on God’s love.

Grace Church website: http://www.gracechurchboston.org/

 

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The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the Good News! The Good News in one sentence is that Jesus Christ, the God’s Son, came to this earth and died for our sins, and then He was raised from the dead. Gospel is 100% based on the grace of God towards men. Men are too sinful to offer anything in return for the salvation that God offers in the Gospel.

Christians came a long way. Today there are millions of churches worldwide, hundreds of Christian educational institutions. There is an entire Christian sub-culture that exists today, but it is nothing if it not based on the Gospel. A church may have the best building, the professional choir, the most eloquent preachers, but none of these things saves people. People can only get saved when they embrace the Gospel.

If we are to be called Christians, it is our job to spread the Gospel and be the light to this world!

 

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This English Thursday we had a guest speaker from First Baptist Church in Manchester (on Union St.) - pastor John. He shared about the need of the power of the Holy Spirit for living, for serving, for purity, and for prayer. Acts 1:8 says “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you…” This power that the author of Acts talks about is the kind of latent power that is used of the dynamite. It does not go off right away, but it does go off later - when God needs it!

In the second half of the study, pastor John answered the following questions:

• Have you experienced this power of the Holy Spirit in such a way that you had no doubt about it?
• What do you tell someone who knows that they live in sin, but just can’t get rid of it?
• What about those who live in guilt over their past sins?

 

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According to Christian teachings, the humankind can be divided into three major classes: natural men, carnal men, and spiritual men.

Natural men are people who were not “born again”. Ever since Adam has sinned (Genesis ch.3), people are born into this world as natural men. The Spirit of God does not abide in natural men, and they are not saved. Once natural men recognize the sin in which they live and repent before God genuinely, they become Christians and exit the category of natural men.

However, once they become Christians they can either fall into the crowd called carnal men or grow into spiritual men. Even though carnal Christians have the Spirit of God, the power of it is muted and their life is controlled by their flesh. Carnality is one of the biggest problems among Christians today. As Christians, we must aspire to become spiritual men who’s life is not dominated by flesh or by the things of this world, but by the power of God within us!

 

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Many Christians started their walk with Christ very strong but suffered the ship wreckage of their faith at some point along the way. 1Timothy 1:19 says “holding on to faith and a good conscience. Some have rejected these and so have shipwrecked their faith.”

We considered six reasons why people have ship-wrecked faith:
1. Lack of attention to their spiritual life
2. Lack of maintenance of their spiritual life
3. Collision/conflict (with God and other people)
4. Carelessness of their spiritual state
5. Failure to respond to the storms of life in God honoring way
6. Spiritual damage

May God open your eyes so that your ship of faith will avoid the fatal reefs of this world!

 

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If you are a Christian, don’t love this world! Don’t get too attached to this world! If you do, you are heading in a different direction from growing closer to God. Paul said “I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ…” (Phil. 3:8).

Certainly, we all face hardships in our lives. How do we respond to them? Where do we find refuge from them?
King David…even though he could find refuge in material or physical things, he found refuge in God. You can find refuge in God only if you have a personal relationships with Him. The very first thing you do (or did) after becoming a Christian is taking refuge in the fact that Jesus has died for your sins and made you a new creature.

Do you personally know God and do you take refuge in Him?

 

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2Corinthians 4:16 NIV says “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.”

What men see and what God sees valuable in men are different things. Men focus on outward appearance, on what you do and what you have. God values inward qualities, the beauty and purity of your heart, and your virtuous character.

The sad truth about outward men is that it eventually perishes. Neither money nor power, fame or good looks can fulfill the hole inside of you that Jesus Christ can only fulfill. May God bless you so that you make right decision to grow in your inward beauty!

 

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This time we had a special guest, David Craig, who came and shared the Gospel of Jesus Christ and also how God led him to his ministry.

David is the pastor of Arctic Circle Baptist Church in Fort Yukon, AK. He also is a missionary among Indians in Alaska. His story is another example of how miraculously God selects right people and sends them to the most unexpected for them places. Praise God for pastor Craig and his ministry!

 

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Are you discouraged? Then perhaps you can ask yourself a question, are you seeking what is right and eternal? Searching and seeking means following after. So, in essence, are you seeking and following after the Lord? Are you pursuing a deeper relationship with Him?

 

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In this installment of English Thursday, our good friend Nick Gaponov shared the defense of the creation of the Universe and the world around us in six literal days.

PowerPoint Slides (in PDF) used during this presentation:
Creation vs Evolution (141)

 

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