List of things Every student should know after leaving the student ministry
Salvation (Soteriology) – Is only by grace (Sola gratia) through faith (Sola fide) in Jesus Christ (Sola Christus), that he created the world, we sinned (which separated us from Him), and he came to Earth as Jesus Christ (fully God and fully Man), lived a sinless life, was crucified in a substitutionary atonement for our sins, rose 3 days later, will come back to vanquish all evil someday (and subsequently send those to Hell, who do not put their faith in Him), and is currently preparing a place for those of us who do place our faith in Christ. All of this was for God’s glory. Ultimately, everything will result in 100% glory to God (Soli Deo gloria). The only reason we know anything about him is through his word (Sola Scriptura).
Scripture – Is God’s divine revelation of Himself and to us for his ultimate glory. The words in the bible are “God Breathed,” that is he caused them to be written down by human authors exactly how he wanted. It is inerrant and infallible and contains everything we need to know for salvation and Christian living (Sola scriptura).
- Hermeneutics – how to study the bible for yourself
- God is the hero of every story; God as protagonist
- Every story is for our instruction, but Not every story is for our emulation
- memorization – We hide God’s words in our hearts so that we might not sin against him.
- Study is not enough – we must apply the Bible to our lives! God’s word must change us from the inside out! (Rom 12:1-2)
- The Bible doesn’t contradict itself when properly interpreted.
- We’re separated from the Biblical narrative by 2000 years of history, 6982.82 miles, Language, customs, and other stuff. We must try to understand the context and original author’s intended meaning for the intended recipient.
- Hermeneutics – how to study the bible for yourself
All Christians are ministers; priesthood of every believer; All parts of the body have a function, do yours
Stewardship – Loving God, because he first Loved us. This includes the tithes and offerings as well as Christian Service
Family – God created the family as a picture of how awesome and wonderful he is. Marriage is a picture of Christ and the church. Marriage is only between a man and woman.
- Biblical Manhood
- Biblical Womanhood
Missions – we are all missionaries and need to share Christ in OUR mission field. If Christ sends you abroad, that’s great. Until then, he sent you WHERE YOU ARE!
Worship as a lifestyle – helping old ladies across the street, every day Christianity – not just singing – but also that you can worship God with any kind of music in any setting, so that someday, they can grow up to be part of Big Church, not just a separate youth ministry, which is almost its own church
What the heck is a Baptist and why am I (Matt) a Southern Baptist?
- I need to dive into the history of Baptists myself (Matt), even though I know why I am one now.
- Ordinances: – not “Sacraments” – They do not affect salvation.
- Baptism
- Lord’s Supper
- It would be nice to get some Messianic Jews to help us with a real Lord’s Supper
Eschatology – Christ IS coming back.
Ecclesiology – The Church is God’s chosen instrument of:
- Spiritual Growth (i.e. where we learn about God)
- Where we learn about God
- Where we encourage and edify one another
- All Christians are part of the Body of Christ
- We all have spiritual gifts on purpose… for the edification and growth of the church body
- We all have other gifts to edify and grow the church
- The Church has each other’s backs…
- We already have an enemy, Let’s put an end to Friendly Fire!
- Spiritual Growth (i.e. where we learn about God)