Gospel Basics

As some of us look at going out next Sunday to share the gospel, now is a good time for us all to meditate on just what the gospel is. Rather than post the text on this site, here is a link to an article that I believe does a good job in covering the basics of the gospel message:

http://www.the-highway.com/gospel_Pilgrim.html

What exactly is fellowship....?

I think it's great that we have all been moving forward to establish better relationships within the class. We all seem to understand the importance of fellowship in the body of Christ, but have you ever looked at exactly what fellowship is from a biblical viewpoint? Does Christian fellowship have any parameters, any goals or any uniqueness that separates it from the social interaction that takes place between those outside the Church?

Here are a few points from an article that I thought answered some of the questions:

What fellowship is not. In its neglect, Christians have

redefined fellowship to mean any warm human interchange—

especially when we make connection with someone

and discover that we have common interests, experiences,

or viewpoints.

If I spend time with a brother in Christ playing volleyball,

talking about shared political views, or following the ups

and downs of an NFL franchise, we may have a wonderful

time and deepen a friendship. But in none of those things

will we have had fellowship.

Let me press the point further. Fellowship is not (at

least not necessarily) going to a Bible study with someone,

or sharing doctrinal commitments, or attending a Christian

men’s rally where emotions run deep and passions are high.

Fellowship is not found in a “group therapy” session where

participants reveal their darkest thoughts—even if everyone

in the group is a Christian and brings a Bible. In fact, two

Christians can be married to one another and still not

experience fellowship.

What fellowship is. Fellowship is a uniquely Christian

relational experience. No one but those born of the Spirit

of God can have fellowship—which makes its neglect all the

more tragic.

The word “fellowship,” as it is found in the English

Bible, is a translation of the Greek word koinonia. Saying

the word aloud brings to mind our word “community,”

and so it should, for koinonia is its root. But sadly,

politicians and sociologists have effectively redefined

“community” to mean “special-interest group,” so we

need additional words to get at its meaning. Here the

Revised Standard Version of the Scriptures can help. It

translates koinonia as “fellowship,” but also as “participation,”

and “sharing” (in the following verses, these words

are italicized for emphasis).

“And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching

and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the

prayers” (Ac 2:42).

“So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any

incentive of love, any participation in the Spirit, any

affection and sympathy...”

(Php 2:1).

“...and I pray that the

sharing of your faith

may promote the

knowledge of all the

good that is ours in

Christ” (Phm 1:6).

What is fellowship as

defined in the New

Testament? Just this: participating

together in the life

and truth made possible by

the Holy Spirit through our

union with Christ. Fellowship

is sharing something in

common on the deepest possible

level of human relationship—

our experience of God

himself.

Participating together...

life and truth...sharing in

common...human relationship...experience of God—these

phrases capture the essence of the unique Christian experience

of fellowship.

Fellowship with God is the prerequisite to fellowship

with others. This is the explicit message of John in his

first biblical letter:

“We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so

that you also may have fellowship with us. And our

fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus

Christ....If we claim to have fellowship with him yet

walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the

truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the

light, we have fellowship with one another, and the

blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin”

(1Jn 1:3, 6-7).

What can we do to posture

ourselves to experience fellowship?

The list is long:

• Worship God together.
• Pray for one another
• Utilize our spiritual gifts
• Carry one another’s burdens.
• Share about our spiritual experiences
• Confess our sins to one another
• Correct one another
• Serve one another in practical ways.

Each of us has family responsibilities in the church.

Fellowship encompasses a major responsibility to care for

another’s soul and to get help for our own so that together

we can be all that God intends us to be.

So what about you, are you willing and available to build a fellowship that gets under the surface--a fellowship that sees God honored, prayers answered, brothers and sisters growing, needs met and believers encouraged?

Re-purposing The BLOG

Hello! I would like to make a motion to re-purpose the blog to discussion related content as it relates to One Heart Young Families.

I think that our test of the Blog for coordinating events was a good experiment but failed due to lack of people actually visiting the Blog site and, therefore, not knowing or creating conflicts of information about upcoming events. It seems that email and Sunday mornings have become a more reliable method of communication.

That doesn't mean that the blog isn't worthwhile. It is an excellent way to have further discussions that our 30 minute sunday school class may not have the ability to carry on - or perhaps there are further topics of interest as it relates to young families in the life of OHC...

I think it would also be a great idea to let this blog be readable by the general public (not writable).

So if there are any other OHC bloggers still visiting the site .... is there a second?

Girls Night Out!

This post is for all the young married wives...so if you are the husband reading this, please let your lovely wife know! I thought it would be a good idea if we had a "Girls Night Out" event where we could hang out one evening with each other, doing girl things (go to a Chick flick & dinner, or a craft night, or manicures & pedicures with sweets at my place...). We ask our wonderful husbands to be pink & blue for a night and watch the kids! We love you for it!! So, if this sounds good, lets do it! It will be a great opportunity for us all to get to know each other better. We have a lot in common...let's find out what those commonalities are! Possible dates include: Nov. 7th, 8th, 22nd or we could look into doing it in Dec. if Nov. does not work. Lets have some Godly fun girls!

City of Sugar Hill: Fall Festival

There's a great fall festival this weekend that Robbyns' cousin that will be performing at 2pm on the main stage. We will be there at around 12 to walk around and let Elijah roam free. Its a great time for the family if you arent doing anything. Our cells are 678.414.2933 or 678.414.2778 if you end up coming.

The festival includes a variety of events for kids and adults including Carnival Games, Petting Zoo, Arts and Crafts Vendors as well as live local music. I will be playing at 2 pm on the main stage. So pack up the family and head out to E.E. Robinson Park in the City of Sugar Hill this weekend. For more information and directions to the festival visit:
http://www.cityofsugarhill.com/content/62/119/2438/2638/3830.aspx

Hello from CO

Sydney just wanted to say "Hello!" to everyone from Colorado. It's beautiful out here and as always, and it'll take an act of God to bring us back to the ATL. Sorry we won't be able to make it for the pot luck, but we'll be hoping its a success. Looks like Heidi will be able to make it to the maze if you do that on the 25th. We left our COUPLE/CHAIRS papers at home. Can someone remind me who is COUPLE and who is CHAIRS? We were going to try to get them done and send to Larry for next Sunday. Take care everyone & we'll see you soon!

Hello young families
This is the reminder for the pot luck this Sunday...
We need casseroles, bread, salad and utensils. Email me what you plan to bring for this weekend. My email address is kaycox4@yahoo.com

Please let me know if you are planning to attend so we can plan appropriately. We will need help setting up tables and chairs after church.

More information about following events later.

Calendar

I am working through bugs with the calendar. Its not importing correctly. The google calendar is updated and I will throw a link up to that until the embedded calendar is fixed.

Central Point of Information

Good morning! I jumped on blogger this morning to get the low-down on events happening with OHYF (lol). I think we might have an issue with misinformation, or maybe a central collection point of information. Information is being passed around in different areas and with different groups and as evidenced by some of our previous blogs, folks are stepping up to set dates that are conflicting with dates that have already been set!

For those that can't be in Sunday school, or participate in events like the meeting at Robin and Dorian's home, the blog is an excellent source of information.

If plans are being made for the group outside the confines of the blog, we really need to ditch the blog since it would just add to the pool of misinformation.

I personally like the blog, as I go to one place for information. I don't have to call different people, or hope I get on a paper list and get called, or get an email, or find it in the bulletin. Most folks have access to the internet these days, so I would assume that it would werk.

Post a comment to this blog if you feel like the blog should stay or go.

Corn Maze - October 25th

Hey folks,

Robbyn and I talked this evening, and we are available to open our home on Saturday, October 25th to go to the Corn Maze at Jaemor Farms in Hall County. We are going to hammer out details this Sunday re time, food, etc. I will be running a half-marathon in the morning, but I should be functional by mid-afternoon to start our fun!

See you Sunday,
Ari Mathe'

How do you get on the calendar to schedule an event?

Hey guys,
I guess I kinda stepped into the role of coordinator of events.....sorry it took me awhile to get on this thing....
So, let's schedule the following dates:

October 11th corn maze
October 12th pot luck after church
October 25th tribulation trail

We will get the details to you.

I would like to have things at least two months in advance. I will start doing this. If you weren't in class, we not only want to have group events, but opportunities for outreach. If you have an idea, or contact group let me know.
I hope you are praying for this class and the opportunity to grow together.
See ya Sunday

Corn maze

Good evening everyone,
I personally think that Saturday, October 11th sounds like a great day for the corn maze!
We could then do tribulation trail on Saturday, the 25th as Travis suggested. We need to get these set in stone, so we don't miss out on some harvest time fun! Please respond ASAP, if you are able to commit to these two weekends. Thanks

RSS Feeds

Hey has anyone seen the spot where we can grab an RSS feed of this blog?

October Events

In order to coordinate our events so that the most people can attend we probably need to set a date as soon as possible. Ideally, we find the day that the most people have off, then set that as a day to do something. The problem is gathering everyone's schedules and reviewing them all to find the one or two most available days. That might be a hard thing to do. We may want to simply say, for example, we're doing the corn maze on the 11th and Tribulation Trail on the 25th. If we make it official, then people can go ahead and work their schedules so they can attend. Like Larry said, we have around 20 couples, so we should still have a fairly good turn out doing it this way. But we're only five days away October, so we probably need to get some dates set pretty soon. Hope all of you are enjoying Fireproof tonight!

An Unsolicited Vent

I understand that this blog is for posting event ideas, but how about thoughts in general. I logged on for the first time tonight in my hotel here in Killeen, TX to find an unfortunate ad. Of course, this is not Dorian's fault, or any one's fault for that matter; it just happened to be the movie that was advertised in the upcoming movies block. The advertised trailer was for a movie called "The God Who Wasn't There", which is a documentary attempting to prove that Christianity is simply a crutch for the weak based solely on a fairy tale full of holes. The influx of media into the everyday lives of billions around the world is likely the greatest avenue for the purposes of God to people who are otherwise wholly disconnected from all things godly. The dark and heartbreaking antithesis to this is that it is also the greatest avenue for the purposes of Satan to all people--no person is safe. We would all agree that Satan was and is fully involved in the production and distribution of this film and I cringe to think how many people will watch that ad, those who are riding the fence between belief and disbelief, and succumb to the not-so-subtle urgings of Satan. The divide between the churched and the unchurched is not only getting deeper and wider, but the two divisions are each becoming better schooled in their thought. Satan's armies are getting more and more aggressive in their attacks, not holding anything back. We have to always be on the offensive. Scripture says that we must be ready to defend our faith. Have you thought recently about how you would defend your faith if someone challenged you on, let's say, the authenticity of scripture, the deity of Christ, the eternality of God, or simply the existence of God, Himself? I know our class is about communication within a Christian marriage, which is hugely important and I am really looking forward to it. That being said, and this applies to me as much as anyone (of course), we have to guard ourselves very closely against becoming too comfortable within the confines of our group, discussing a topic that is sure to make us feel good. While we are comfortable, Satan is looking for someone to devour. This includes each one of us. Sorry for the rant, but that movie trailer got me a bit steamed. My challenge to all of us: Let us never be comfortable with our current level of faith in God or understanding of God. Now I'm going to bed -- good night!

Whoa, does this werk?

OMG, my bff jill...

Welcome to the OHC Young Fams Blog

By now you shoud have recieved an invitation to share on tis blog. If you find events you think the group would like, comments on the studies that we do or anything else thats uplifting or relevant to the OHC Young Fams Community, please share it here. The calendar is being populated and ilw be updated as events get posted. There is also a photo gallery that wil be populated as we start tking shots at events that we have.

Cracking the Communication Code

This Sunday we will start a new six week study called "Cracking The Communication Code" with Pastor Larry and Margo Askew. This is an exciting study from 9:30 to 10:30 which is open to all young married families who are looking to connect with their spouse on a more spiritual level.

About The Book
An in-depth study of the vital principles from the best-selling Cracking the Communication Code now in workbook form.

Communication between couples has been dissected in thousands of books and articles, so why does it remain the number one marriage problem? "Because," says Dr. Emerson Eggerichs, "most spouses don't know that they speak two different languages. They are sending each other messages in 'code,' but they won't crack that code until they see that she listens to hear the language of love and he listens to hear the language of respect." Dr. Eggerichs' best-selling book, Love and Respect, launched a revolution in how couples relate to each other. Now with the Cracking the Communication Code companion workbook, the message of this hardcover trade book can be studied and applied whether for a group or for individual couples. The result will be better communication, mutual understanding, and a successful godly marriage.

Fireproof The Movie

This Friday September 25th we will be going as a group to see Fireproof the movie. The creators of this movie are the same people that brought us Facing the Giants. If you haven't seen Facing the Giants, its a must see. If you are interested in getting tickets for the movie night this weekend or need additional information on childcare, please contact Larry Askew at One Heart.