Our Guest Speakers Maybe Did Too Good of a Job...?

Two questions I get asked a lot that I want to put to rest:

1) “You only work one day a week, only for an hour on Sunday, right?” Incorrect. I don't work that whole hour, just 35 or 40 minutes of it.

2) (After one of our guest speakers spoke) “Aren't you afraid of losing your job?” No. I have worked hard to be the most replaceable person at the church.

But I get the sentiment behind #2. Our guest speakers – Mike Wolski, Taylor Brown, Matt Koll, Ryan Stroupe, and other regulars Justin Cady, Rich Sprunk, Mark Ort and Dan Thompson – all do a phenomenal job. They work hard and pray hard and pour themselves out delivering the Word of God. Their success in doing so doesn't make me “sweat over my job”. Quite the opposite. The excellence they demonstrated in competently preaching must be viewed as a huge success. Not just for me. Not just for HBC. But for the Kingdom of God. 

That man in the picture with me is Pastor Bob Huber. He taught me everything. I was blessed to have such a “Father in the Gospel” for 25 years, and on July 4th – the faith became sight for him as he met Jesus face to face. 

At his funeral, four men, including me, stood and testified to his faithfulness to the church, his family, and above all, to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Four pastors. Though Pastor Bob has “graduated” (as he used to call a believer's death), he multiplied himself many times over. Four of us represented countless others as we honored PB's memory and continue the work of the ministry as we await our Savior's return. 

So anything good that came from our guest speakers in July (and there was much good), came as the baton of discipleship was passed from Bob to me, and from me to these guest speakers. And by God's grace, may these men pass the baton of discipleship to many others. 

Who knows how many more pastors will be raised up down the line because of the way Jesus worked through Pastor Bob? Why not? I mean, pastors only have to work one day a week, anyways. 

Pastor Jeff

-2 Timothy 2:2

Praying the Scriptures About Time Online

July 2020

Time online, do our kids even use a computer anymore? The book Praying Scriptures for Your Teenagers was published in 2007. In 2007 did teenagers even have smart phones? Most likely not. But we can reword this chapter to cell phone and social media use to be more relevant for today. 

There are so many dangers that the internet and social media have created for our kids and teenagers. Jodie Berndt’s research found that 9 out of 10 children ages 8 to 16 have viewed pornography and half of all teens talk to people that they have never met through forms of social media and the internet. Cyber bullying is also another danger that our kids can get mixed up in through social media and the internet. Being behind the screen has given teens more confidence to say things that they typically would not say in person. 

Protecting our kids and teens from these types of behaviors needs to be one of number one priorities. We can start by praying and ask God to expose any sins or anything harmful or dangerous to them. Let me tell you from experience, THIS WORKS! We can also set up a plan just like Nehemiah when he and the other Jews worked on rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem. Their enemies plotted ways to destroy their work just like Satan opens the door for our teens to stumble on things online and through social media. Nehemiah did 3 things. He prayed, posted guard, and made a plan to fight back. We need to do the same. 

First, we need to pray. We need to pray for our teens and their whole generation using scripture and cry out to the Lord. You can join me, July 19th 630-730 Pm for our Next Generation Prayer Group where we dedicate this hour to praying for our kids using scriptures. Or create a time on your own where you specifically pray for your kids and their friends. 

Next, we need to post guard. Spend quality time with our kids so they do not go looking somewhere else to fill their needs of family and community. We can not let the media push out the relationships with family members and God. Bring computers and cell phones in a common area. If they are allowed to have those things in their rooms or in rooms where no one is watching, it is an invitation for the devil. Be alert of danger. Watch for signs like exiting out of screens or closing the phone down as soon as you enter the room. My 5 year old son just did this not so long ago. They learn early. I told him he could have his iPad time as long as he was on ABC Mouse. I left the room to go do something else and when I came back in he hurried up and scrambled on the iPad. When I asked him what he was doing he told me “uhhhh nothing”. When I took the iPad off of him and saw all the latest screens, he had Netflix up and not ABC Mouse. We then got to have a nice chat about his iPad time use. Rules need to be established and monitor what your kids are doing and who they are talking to. They may complain and say we are “invading their privacy” but in reality we are protecting their purity. 

And finally we need to be a model. Model appropriate times to be on your phone or computer. And let them know how awful things like pornography are and how disrespectful it is to men and woman everywhere. Another tip we can use from Nehemiah is to use the buddy system. Nehemiah used the buddy system while rebuilding the walls to help alert the others if the enemy was close. We need our churches, schools and neighbors to build a community to work together and be the safeguard for our kids. We need to help educate and equip other parents.

Our church computer guru, Ben Murphy held a very informative zoom meeting back in April on how to protect what comes in and what you can block on your routers and modem. Check it out  here: https://www.harvestpittsburghnorth.org/blog/2020/4/14/family-tip-tuesday-presents-the-household-cto

If you find your teen involved with porn or another dangerous habit online, our first response needs to be love. Explain to them that you love them but HATE what they have been doing, and explain to them that those behaviors will only hurt their mind and spirit. Then help them make a plan to fight the temptation.

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Here are some scripture based prayers you can use,

Heavenly Father....

Let _____ be careful to lead a blameless life. Strengthen her resolve so that she will not be tempted to look at anything vile or vulgar. Cause her to reject perverse ideas, stay away from evil, and refuse to tolerate any kind of slander- whether it is done face to face, over the phone, or online.

Psalm 101:2-4

Let no unwholesome words or pictures have a place on _____’s computer or phone screen. Instead, let all that he communicates be helpful for building up other people according to their needs, so that his use of technology would be a benefit to all.

Ephesians 4:29 

Guard _____’s heart and mind so that she will not spend her time gossiping, getting into other people's business and saying things online that she would never dream of saying in front of anyone. 

1Timothy 5:13 

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Join us on Sunday July 19th, at 6:30pm for the next Next Generations Prayer meeting.

For more scripture based prayers for this topic please email me amoll@harvestpittsburghnorth.org 

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Citation:

Berndt, Jodie. Praying Scriptures for Your Teenager. 2007. Pg 215-227

Q&A Day: A Question We Didn't Get To. A Barrage of Questions from Hawk Nelson's Singer.

A barrage of questions, a barrage of answers!

Pick your favorite of the questions the ex-lead singer of Hawk Nelson has... they are all good for Q&A day.

“If God is all loving, and all powerful, why is there evil in the world? Can you not do anything about it? Does he choose not to? Is the evil in the world a result of his desire to give us free will? OK then what about famine and disease and floods and all the suffering that isn’t caused by humans in our free will? If God is loving, why does he send people to hell?” were all questions that plagued him.

Evil in the world was man's doing. And God promised that things will not always be that way (Revelation 21:5). He WILL do something about it. 

Famine / disease / flood – results of living in a fallen, cursed world, which God will also remedy. 

And God doesn't send people to hell. People choose to go to hell by rejecting God's salvation offered in Jesus Christ. See Romans 9:22-23 - the Greek verb tense makes it clear. The vessels of wrath literally “fitted themselves” for destruction!

“Why does God seem so p______ off in most of the old testament, and then all of a sudden he’s a loving father in the New Testament? Why does he say not to kill, but then instruct Israel to turn around and kill men women and children to take the promised land? Why does God let Job suffer horrible things just to win a bet with Satan? What does he tell Abraham to kill his son and then basically say ‘just kidding! That was a test.’ If God can do anything, can’t you forgive without someone dying? I mean, my parents taught me to forgive people – nobody dies in that scenario,” he wrote. 

God is the same God in both Testaments. His love for people is evident on every page. Yes, in both Testaments!

The people Israel were commanded to wipe out were brutal and wicked people. In The Case for Faith, Lee Strobel has an excellent chapter on this. 

God wasn't “betting” Satan. As usual - what Satan meant for harm, God used for good. Job ended up blessed despite the suffering he endured. Find Job in heaven and ask him about this.

Abraham was chosen by God to be the father of Israel – and the faith. Once upon a time, Abe left everything to follow God. With telling Abe to sacrifice Isaac, God was essentially asking him, “Are you willing to do that again?”

There is no forgiveness of sin without the shedding of blood (Hebrews 9:22). And we forgive people because of the shed blood of Jesus (Ephesians 4:32). Forgiven people forgive. 

Okay, you asked for one - but I couldn’t decide! So here’s a short answer for them all. These are very common questions, and it’s kind of surprising the son of a pastor didn’t have these answers. Again, this is the difference between knowing ABOUT Jesus and KNOWING JESUS.

And this is why we theology!

Q&A Day - A Question We Didn't Get To: Blessed Assurance?

As usual, we ran out of time before we got to all the questions. So as promised, here’s one that was submitted:

If people who believe in God can have assurance of salvation, can people who believe in God have assurance that they are doomed?

I’m not sure of the question as it is worded. People who believe in Jesus Christ certainly should NOT have assurance they are doomed. 

IF the question is If people who believe in God can have assurance of salvation, can people who DON'T believe in God have assurance that they are doomed? To that I would say: It would be hard to think someone knows what hell is and are okay with going there. I truly believe that most unbelievers think that somehow, in the end, they were “good enough” to go to heaven - and will somehow end up there. Despite what the Bible says about sin and the need to personally receive the gift of eternal life in Jesus Christ, I think most unbelievers are banking on God just overlooking their sin and giving them heaven anyways. This is clearly not what the Bible teaches.

John 3:36 - Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.