Here ya go….make a caption for this picture:

SO…I was totally naive about how many questions would be sent in by our students at our Q&A night. To keep from having to answer questions on every blog for the next two years, I will take a good balance of the questions and talk about them. Without further ado…here are five random questions from our Q & A night (more coming soon!):

1) What do you do when a teacher discriminates because you’re Baptist? I would invite them to a potluck dinner and sing “Just As I Am” at the end of each class. (We actually gave a real answer at Q&A night.)

2) How do we know how to listen to God? God can speak to you in a variety of ways, but the main way is through the Bible. Romans 10:17 tells us that faith comes from hearing God’s Word. God will speak to you as you study the Bible and He will never tell you anything that contradicts it. He also speaks so us through His Spirit. That subtle voice guiding you a lot of times is Him (John 16:13, Romans 8:14). He can speak to us through other people (Proverbs 12:15).

The main thing is to stop talking to God about our issues all the time and truly listen through these ways I’ve mentioned. It’s hard to listen if all we do is talk.

3) What do you do when some of your friends are saying bad words but when you tell them to stop, they say “But it’s in the Bible”? As far as I know, there aren’t any cuss words in the Bible. Hell is an actual place. Damn is used when talking about sending people to Hell to face punishment for their sins. Ass is a donkey. Other than that, I have no clue what their talking about.

4) Can you believe in God but think that He doesn’t like you? There is never a moment that God doesn’t love you. BUT…He often doesn’t like your actions (or lack of) or thoughts. It’s like this. Let’s say that I tell my wife (Patty) that I’m gonna wash the dishes and I don’t do it. Patty would not be happy with me and would not like what I did. BUT…she still loves me. She always will. That’s a small glimpse of God. He loves us but hates sin. (Romans 8:38-39…example of God always loving us. There are tons of examples of God hating sin in the Bible)

5) Something happened to me by one of my family members 3 years ago and I still haven’t told my parents. What should I do? You definitely need to tell someone about what happened to you. It will be difficult to tell your parents, but they would want to know so they can help you. Whatever happened, it obviously is something that still bothers you and is on your mind, so the first step to moving on is letting others know.

We had a TXT MSG night last night at youth (that’s “Text Message” for the older crowd). Over the course of the next week, I am gonna answer every question that was sent in. It should be fun. Check back later tonight for part one!

NOTES FROM STETZER:
* For many of us in ministry, somewhere along the way we’ve gotten the idea that it is sinful to say “Why God?
* Main Idea- Doubt
* You can’t get to faith without doubt
* For most at the conference , ministry is not going to look like what you see on stage.
* Ministry pornography – Unrealistic picture of a ministry that you are never gonna have.
* John 14: Thomas tells Jesus that he doesn’t get it. Jesus lets him know that He is the way, truth, life and the only way.
* The misapplication is to say that Thomas is bad for doubting. We need to be able to ask “Why?” in the midst of hurt.
* Do you know what they call people who are happy all the time? Mentally Ill.
* The Bible never promises we will always be happy.
* The Gospel never lasts through the first tragedy if we teach people that we’re to always be happy.
* God is not afraid of your questions.
* God is not in heaven hoping you’ll have your best life. God is in heaven longing for people to be forgiven of their sin and delivered from the curse of sin.
* Saying “I don’t know” to a lost person is not a sign of immaturity
* God doesn’t promise answers, He promises us Himself.
* God doesn’t always speak happiness…He always speaks peace.
* Jesus = Lord = He calls the shots in my life (this leads us to repentance)
* God’s enough for me in the midst of hurting.
* My Lord & my God will help us through our unbelief.

NOTES FROM NOBLE:
* Ministry is the toughest job on the planet
* How many times have you gone home and said “I love Jesus, I don’t love the people that love Jesus”
* We are called by God- Jesus wanted you
* Are you doing what you’re doing because you’re called?
* Too many church planters start churches not because they’re called, but because they’re pissed off at the pastor and want to do it theirself.
* John 3:13
* “We don’t volunteer for this stuff. We are called. If we’re volunteering, we’re stupid.”
* We have to understand our priorities. We have a tendency to forget them.
* John 3:14 – He called them to be with Him,
* The first calling on our life is that we would be WITH Jesus.
* If ministry ever takes away from our time with God, we have been conforming to the ideas of others and not what’s most important.
* If we would spend more time with Jesus and less time on what others are doing, we would see significant growth take place.
* Way too much imitation and not enough revelation in the church
* We are called to go out to preach (John 3:14)
* God is not green, Kermit is. We can save the planet and people on it could go to hell.
* “It will be a cold day in hell when I preach a message on recycling and neglect to preach about Jesus Christ.”
* He called them to have authority (John 3:15)
* The time has come for us to stop walking in fear but to walk in the authority that God has given us.
* “Do you really wanna be a prostitute for the rest of your life, or do you want to serve Jesus the way that He called you to?”
* Do what God tells you to do and let Him handle the results
* You have to understand the temptation.
* If you’re a pastor, there is no bigger target in your church than on your back.
* John 3:19 – Judas walked closer to Jesus than most of us will ever know, but he didn’t finish because he fell into temptation.
* Satan desires to have you. How are you gonna protect yourself?

NOTES FROM BURKE:
* The main problem of man is that we want to be God.
* How many years have we spent telling people about a spirital product that we haven’t been taking in ourselves
* Christianity is scandalously simply, yet difficult for adults to live.
* The goal is relationships.
* All human problems are relational.
* “Apart from me, you can do nothing.” This tells us that what he was saying must be important.
* Stay connected, fruit happens.
* We have to think hard and strategize about how to make community happen
* Galatians 5 – Walk in the Spirit, moment by moment, and everything else will follow
* All of us already know these things. We just don’t do them that well.
* The reason that Christianity has such a negative connotation in society is because we’re not doing what Jesus did. Jesus Himself said that He had to do what the Father did.
* It is freeing when you realize that God causes the growth and we that our goal is simply creating the environment.
* We have to learn to have “ears to ear” and teach others to respond in faith when those God thoughts enter our minds.
* BIG IDEA- Stay Connected

NOTES FROM DEVER:
* He opened by saying “I bring you greetings from the tucked in generation”
* The Church WILL win. It’s not in doubt.
* The Big Idea: God has put himself on display for the world to see through the Church
* In creation, he made more than one human. The trinity reflects community.
* Faith comes from hearing the Word. God speaks through the church and teaching people God’s word.
* A sermon as a monologue even reflects how salvation is from God alone.
* As we preach God’s word, he will draw people to Himself and to God’s church.
* Reading the culture and understanding the culture means that you have you realize the culture typically stands against God.
* The Church needs to be shaped by God’s Word. It needs to be a bowl that captures the fruit of God and displays it to the world.
* It is important to have a concept of church membership.
* Make your life congregationally centered.
* Members are running around wearing their Jesus jersey and displaying it through our franchise.
* If members aren’t living as they should and resist to change, they should be excommunicated from church.
* God set up the Church deliberately to make it distinct from the world.
* Perhaps God cares more about the corporate whole than the individual?
* Don’t think of your main gathering as an event. Think of it as a community that is being cultivated.
* God probably wants to laugh at us when we discover something that “works.”