Alpha

What can you expect from Alpha?

A Full Belly!

Great connections, you get the chance to be with people for the next few weeks together for a few hours.

Fulfillment

Is there more to this life?

There was a farmer who needed a new sheepdog and so he went to a pet shop and the owner said, “I have got just the dog for you! He speaks three languages and is really good at math.” The farmer was both impressed and skeptical. How can a sheepdog speak three languages and know math? So, he put him to work. He took his new dog to the field and there were sheep everywhere. The dog ran off, gathered them all into a herd, fun- neled them into the pen, and shut the gate. The dog then ran up to the farmer and said: “I am pleased to report I have got all 70 sheep into the pen.” “That’s great,” said the farmer “but actually I only have 67 sheep.” “I know,” said the sheepdog. “I rounded them up.”

What makes you happy? What is important to you?

Personal Story

I was not antagonistic to God, but remember I met a few “born again” people and they were weird, meaning were not in what I valued, I remember it was about playing football, the parties, and trying to fit in or popularity and recognition with people.

Russel Brand, drugs and alcohol are not the problem, but the solution to fill the whole in us that exists,

Freddie Mercury in his life shared that he himself in spite of fame, and fortune, lived and empty and lonely life.

John 6:35 Jesus says I am the bread of Life,“I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

John 6:35 NLT

35 Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

Nothing else will satisfy it.

Where do you go when you are in the moment of asking questions?

CS Lewis wrote,

“Christianity, if false, is of no importance and if true, of infinite importance, the only thing it cannot be in moderately important.” -C.S. Lewis

When we really examine our lives, we must be able to ask ourselves if we truly believe in Jesus.

Who is Jesus?

Dr. David Collins the leading professor who helped give identification to the 3 billion genomes in the human body, was practicing medicine and specifically helping a lady with cardiac issues, she ended up telling him it was her faith that helped her through.

Christianity has to be more than something you grew up with, and it is imperative we as parents help create behavior systems for our kids, but it is deeper than a set of behaviors and truths, it is a person!

That question? Who is Jesus?

The resurrection suggests there is a creator, and be seen through the lens of Jesus. Jesus of Nazareth, is there evidence that he exists?

Josephus he was simply a historian, not a diciple, but a man who recorded history and what has happening in the world, described Jesus and who he is in the New Testament; how do we know it has not been changed? That Pastor is not just wagging this bible all

Biblical Validity

And those of us who believe in Jesus do so on the basis of evidence.

‘There was about this time Jesus, a doer of wonderful works.’ And he then goes on to talk about the crucifixion of Jesus and his alleged resurrection.-Josephus

Historical Manuscripts

Herodotus and Thucydides were both written in the 5th century BC. Earliest copies we have are AD 900.

So there’s a 1300-year gap, and we have only eight copies of each. Yet no classical scholar would doubt their authenticity. Livy’s Roman History: 900-year gap,

20 copies. Caesar’s Gallic War: 950-year gap, 9–10 copies.

Tacitus: 1,000-year gap, 20 copies.

Then we come to the New Testament: written between AD 40–100, earliest manuscript AD 130, 5,309 Greek manuscripts, 10,000 Latin, 9,300 others. Totally unique amongst ancient prose writings.

One of the greatest ever textual critics, F. J. A. Hort, said this: ‘In the variety and fullness of the evidence on which it rests, the text of the New Testament stands absolutely and unapproachably alone amongst ancient prose writings.’ And no secular historian would disagree with that. FJA Hort

What did Jesus say about Himself

Then there’s all the stuff we carry around: worry, anxiety, fear, guilt. Jesus said: ‘Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I’ll give you rest.’ ‘If you want peace, peace of mind, come to me.’ Mathew 11:28

John 14:9 NASB 2020

9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you for so long a time, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? The one who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?

Who can we believe this?

4 things that we can point to that give us evidence

The Empty Tomb

Two thoughts: The soldiers stole his body? Robber grabbed it?

His Physical Appearing

Doubting Thomas

I Corinthians shares that he appeard to 500 at one time

The Transformation of his followers

It Is Still Happening

2.3 Billion world wide

John 10:10 “10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came so that they would have life, and have it abundantly.”

There is hope, be encouraged, weather you have come to the conclustion or not Jesus, Is here, he is alive, he wants to the best for us.