Paul now travels the long distance south to Athens, a beehive of humanity, “full of idols,” and again preaches the gospel.  This time he encounters just about every philosophy that was in existence at that time, specifically, the Epicureans and Stoics.  If you have never studied their beliefs, you may take a few moments and download the documents below entitled, “Jewish Teachings and Philosophical Schools” and read them.  It is very, very interesting what both of these groups believed about humanity and lifestyle.

The documents were created by Dr. David Crutchley, my professor of New Testament at Southwestern Theological Seminary during 2001-2003.  He created several documents that give a good thorough understanding of the Jewish Synagogue, Jewish Festivals and how the Sanhedrin was structured.  In the attachment there is also included a brief on the different philosophical schools that existed before during and after the life of Christ.

Jewish Teachings & Philosophical Schools

http://www.webexhibits.org/greekgods/index.html  This link is one that I found that has a very interesting web tool that helps us to understand the complexity of Greek Mythology and what Paul was up against when he walked up to Mars Hill to preach.  What Spirit empowered faith in the power of God!

**Woodland Baptist Church in NO WAY is endorsing this website about Greek Mythology – it is simply an academic resource to help us to understand the magnitude of false gods that the Greeks worshiped**

Here is part 3 of the Athens Bible study, which is basically the same as last weeks.   Notes – Aug 1, 2012 – Acts 17, 16-21 – Athens, part 3

Attached you will find the 15th Annual School Prayer Walk information and prayer guide.  You may participate in the walk at your convenience on Sunday, July 29th at any time during the day.  We plan to go in between AM worship and our cluster worship time at FBC Columbus.

15th Annual School

Prayer Walk, 2012

Flyer – 2012

George Ross is Lead Pastor at Lifepoint Church in Senatobia, Mississippi. He served as Student Pastor at Longview Heights Baptist Church in Olive Branch, Mississippi from 1998 to 2004.

In 2005 George planted Lifepoint Church. He has served as Lifepoint’s Pastor for the last 6 years during which time the LORD has used Lifepoint to reach their community for Christ and sponsor new church works in Hernando, Mississippi, Montana, Toronto,  and Africa. George has also been leading educational trips to Israel and other parts of the Middle East since 1999.

George and his wife, Joy, have 4 children: Isaac, Hannah Ruth, Abigail, and Jeremiah. They are devoted to family worship and raising their children in the nurture and instruction of the LORD.

George is a graduate of Crichton College in Memphis, Tennessee and received his Master of Divinity in Evangelism and Church Planting from Liberty Theological Seminary. Passionate about testifying to God’s grace, God continues to use George in Kingdom ministry as a husband, father, pastor, church planter, and conference preacher.  Email: george@one8.org  Twitter: @PreacherMan04

ONE8 is a cooperating network of like-minded SBC churches across Mississippi and the Mid-South working together to advance the gospel by planting new churches and equipping existing churches for multiplication. Our vision is to partner with churches, associations, and state conventions to help initiate a church planting movement throughout the Mid-South. Through an intensive application and assessment process, we seek to provide church planters with internships, coaching, networking, and resources.

Distinctives

ONE8 Church Planting Network is a committed partner with the SBC. All ONE8 Network Churches and Church Plants affirm the 2000 Baptist Faith and Message.  The ONE Church Planting Network also affirms the following distinctives:

• We believe in the Sufficiency of Scripture

We believe the Bible is God’s Word. More importantly, we believe that it is our final authority in all matters of faith and practice.  Thus, we are constantly reforming ourselves in view of God’s Word.

• We Practice Systematic Exposition

Because we believe in the inerrancy of Scripture, we practice systematic exposition in our preaching ministry.  That means we preach verse by verse through sections of the Bible in order to faithfully proclaim “the whole council of God” to His people.

• We Seek Regenerate Church Membership

Our goal is not to grow as fast as we can. Our goal is to grow as healthy as we can. We are very deliberate in our membership process. Those seeking membership are carefully counseled to determine whether or not they truly understand and have experienced Biblical conversion. Our goal here is not elitism. We simply wish to avoid giving false assurance to those who are not truly regenerate. Our mission is not to get as many people to “walk the aisle” as possible. We desire to see true conversion. We constantly proclaim and explain the gospel and take our time with people struggling to understand what it means to follow Christ.

• We are Committed to Biblical Community

The Church is not a building, but a community of believers.  As such we are to live in fellowship and community with one another. We must do more than just occupy pews near each other on a weekly basis to call ourselves a church. We also believe the New Testament gives us clear teaching that Biblical Converts (regenerate believers) were a part of Christian community. We do not believe that a true convert of Christ will live a life apart from the Community of Christ; His Church.

• We are Committed to Practicing a Biblical Worldview

Christianity is not merely a religion, it is also a lifestyle, a philosophy and worldview.  We are to think biblically about every aspect of our lives.  It is only through filtering our life choices using the Word of God as our filter that we will understand, develop, and practice a Biblical Worldview.

• We are Committed to Evangelism, Missional Living, and Church Planting.

Evangelism is simply telling non-Christians the good news about what Jesus Christ has done to save sinners. In order to biblically evangelize you must preach the whole gospel, even the hard news of God’s wrath against our sin, calling people to repent of their sins and trust in Christ while making it clear that believing in Christ is costly, but worth it. Being missional results in intentionally engaging culture so that we may live out the Gospel message in word and deed. We believe this is the duty of every Christian, as Jesus commanded us to be “in” the World but not “of” the World.  We also believe that Church Planting is the greatest way to advance the Gospel, and therefore are committed to being a community of Church Planting Churches.

Please consider this an invitation to bring your children to Woodland Baptist Church’s 2012 Vacation Bible School, Amazing Wonders Aviation that begins this coming Monday evening at 6:00pm.  Please take a moment and watch the video, print off the registration form and email the information in to us so we can be prepared for your child’s attendance next week.  If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to call the office – 662-327-6689.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEjpeUBA8vk&feature=player_detailpage

Click here for registration form registration 2012, or, simply email the information to brad@woodlandonline.org or nancy@woodlandonline.org