Hello and God bless you all!

We would like to invite all the singles to join us this summer as we take our gatherings outdoors.  Each Friday we meet this summer will take place during an outdoor barbecue at the Cityline Church parsonage.  We look forward to seeing you and fellowshipping during this summer.

The S.W.A.T. ministry is for any single adults ages 26-40 with no children.

In this series, we will discuss different topics pertaining to the Christian faith that are sometimes controversial, misunderstood, overlooked, assumed, etc.  We want to get the group thinking about issues that many Christians are never confronted with under normal or common circumstances.  We want to know, what do YOU believe?

We also had a little assignment for each person to complete as a preparation for our introduction on July, 16th.  That document can be found here:

Timeline Homework

As for Friday, the final topics we will be discussing are Gambling (including lotto), Music, and TV/Film.  The basic issue here is what is permissible for Christians.  Now, as human beings, as adults, and as Americans, all these things are permissible.  So, to clarify, we are referring to what is allowable when trying to live a life that is pleasing to the Lord and honors those examples and guidelines set forth by the Word of God.

With that being said, we would like as many people as possible to post their opinions here regarding these topics.  What do you think?  As a guide, think about these questions when you post (but you don’t need to be limited to them):

1. Should Christians listen to secular music?  If so, what kinds?  If so, what are YOU listening to?
2. What kinds of TV shows and films should Christians stay away from?  Why or Why not?
3. Is gambling a sin?  Does it depend on how much you gamble?  Is lotto gambling?

We look forward to hearing different opinions.  God bless.

On day 2 we continued with topics that fell along the lines of “Sexual Immorality” and one specific topic that took a large portion of our time was masturbation.  Here you will find the day 1 discussion

1.  First we looked at the reasons why people masturbate; their motivations.  My thought was that the primary motivation for masturbation occurs when an individual needs to fulfill a sexual desire which cannot be fulfilled by a sexual partner, i.e. a spouse.  We, as humans, all have sexual desires.  We were designed this way.  Some people are more “sexual” than others.  Still, physiologically speaking, God designed us as beings with sexual desires coinciding with our drive to procreate and multiply.  Some people have feelings that the sexual desires they have are sinful.  But, as we can see above, this is not something you should be ashamed of, it is natural.

A couple of people in the group made the point that there are many people who masturbate even though they do have a sexual partner.  However, we discussed that some people are not fulfilled by their sexual partners, not fulfilled “enough,” or possibly even prefer masturbation to intercourse with their partner.  There are still other reasons why people masturbate, a couple of which we will discuss shortly.

2.  We determined that the Bible says nothing about masturbation.  Therefore, we have to find another way to either condone it or condemn it.  So we looked at two aspects of masturbation:

a.  Masturbation is a “form” of sex.  When a man or woman masturbates, they stimulate  themselves sexually to the point of orgasm, which is the gist of sex.  Now, if we consider that God created sex to be between a man and a woman within the institution of   marriage (established in Day 1 discussion), masturbation is a violation of this structure.            Masturbation is by definition “having sex with yourself”.  God did not design us to have sex with ourselves.

b.  Next, we examined what masturbation is accompanied by.  When people masturbate, they do not face a bare wall and carry out their masturbation.  There are typically fantasies that accompany masturbation.  This also brings us into sin.  Let us consider Matt 5:28:

“But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”

If we are imagining Angelina Jolie or Brad Pitt (or anybody else) while we masturbate, we are looking at them lustfully in our minds and have fallen into sexual immorality.

These were the two ways that we determined that masturbation is a form of sexual immorality and therefore a sin before God.

3.  At this point people from the group brought up two concerns: (1) mutual masturbation between a man and woman who are married (referring to the act of a man and woman masturbating in front of each other as a sexual act in itself or as a form of foreplay), and (2) masturbation by a man and woman together who have been separated for long periods of time, i.e. a couple where the man is a soldier and away on duty for a year and participates in phone sex with masturbation with his wife.

I conceded that these issues were types of situations that could easily fall into gray areas and could be debated well on both sides.  Personally, I stated that I could not see myself condemning people in these situations.  For the first one, I am of the opinion that what people choose to do in their bedroom is their decision (as long as no one is being hurt in any way).  For the second, if we already stated that our sexual desires are natural and designed by God, how can we fault a couple for trying to have some semblance of sexual intimacy with each other?  Are they hurting anybody?  Are they sinning in their minds if they are fantasizing about their own spouse?

But these are my opinions. Pastor Rodriguez has agreed to weigh in on this issue and we will be adding his commentary shortly.

4.  Finally we looked at the issue of dating non-believers.  Many times Christians are not pleased with the selection that is available in their own church and look to the world to find a companion.  Sometimes they feel they can “win them for the Lord… and themselves”.  However, this is strictly prohibited in the Bible.  The Bible tells us that we should not be unequally yoked with non-believers.  Doing so presents a very strong possibility of compromising our Christian principles, beliefs and behavior.  We examined 2 Corinthians 6:14-15 where, among other things, Paul tells us that we do not have anything in common with non-believers.  Like light and darkness, we cannot coexist.

Registrarse

¿Qué es?

Este retiro es un evento exclusivo para guiar y  habilitar jóvenes solteros.  Nuestras conferencias cubrirán asuntos y temas que nos desafían como jóvenes solteros, tales como: finanzas, relaciones, oportunidades, perdón, y el “ser”. ¡Ven y  únete a nosotros en adoración, confraternidad, aprendizaje, interconexión y crecimiento en su relación con Dios!

¿Para quién es?

Todos que están  entre las edades de 24 – 40 y se identifican con lo siguiente:

• Soltero
• No casado todavía
• Comprometido
• “Soltero de Nuevo”
• Viuda/o

Este retiro no es para:

• parejas casadas
• padres solteros

¿Dónde es?

El Retiro de jóvenes se llevará a cabo en Lake Champion que está ubicado en Glen Spey, NY (menos de 2 horas de la Ciudad de Jersey City, NJ). Esta facilidad pintoresca rodeada  de lagos y proporciona facilidades cómodas, un vestíbulo comedor masivo, gimnasio interior,  centro de recreo, numerosas actividades al aire libre, salas de conferencias, y más.

www.lakechampion.org

¿Cuándo es?

El Retiro se efectuará en el fin de semana del 19-21 de marzo 2010. La mesa de bienvenida abrirá a las 4 de la tarde el viernes 19.

¿Cuánto cuesta?

Este retiro es una inversión en su vida. ¿Cuánto es el precio de esta inversión?  $120

Este precio incluye:

• 5 comidas (estilo de buffet- todo lo que puedas comer)
• todas las actividades (escalamiento de rocas, la línea de cierre, carreras de cuerdas, columpio que grita, baloncesto, voleibol, y mucho más)
• conferencias
• alojamientos
• fogata,  malvaviscos y Chocolate caliente
• Noche Social con música especial  por TruDenstiny

• El ultimo día para registrarse sera el 17 de marzo

No habrá registración  en el local

Para registrarse por correo, presione:

El Poder De Uno – Forma de Registracion

Para registrarse online, presione:

Regístrese Aquí

Recuento de Fin de Semana

Viernes

• ***La Mesa de Bienvenida estará abierta a las 4pm***
• 8:00 p.m. –Noche Social (incluye pizza, canapés y refrescos) – Música Especial por TruDestiny
• Fogata en la  noche – un tiempo de confraternidad y adoración. Malvaviscos  y chocolate caliente serán servidos.

Sábado

• 8:30a.m.  Desayuno
• Adoración y Conferencias
• Almuerzo
• Actividades
• Cena
• Servicio
• Confraternidad

Domingo

• Desayuno
• Servicio Matutino
• Torneo de baloncesto

Temas de conferencias y Oradores

Temas:

• Recibiendo y Dando Perdón
• Controlando Hábitos  Anormales – Aprende cómo relacionarse mejor con personas alrededor de usted que son controlantes  y descubre cómo libertarse de la ansiedad cuando trata de controlar lo que está fuera de su control.
• Espejo, Espejo – Llega a ser la clase de persona que usted quiere atraer.
• Solteros en Acción – Físicamente, Espiritualmente y Emocionalmente
• Solteros y los ahorros – Cómo ser mejores administradores.

Oradores Invitados:

• Pastores Gabriel y Jeanette Salguero
• Pastores Joshua  y Paula Rodriguez
• Elvin y Jessica Aviles – Directores del ministerio de solteros de la Iglesia de Cityline

Para registrarse por correo, presione:

El Poder De Uno – Forma de Registracion

Para registrarse online, presione:

Regístrese Aquí

Our mission:

is to advocate for and minister to those young single adults within our church and within our sphere of influence.  To encourage and support a profound relationship with God and individual wholeness.  To utilize the empowerment of the Holy Spirit to impact singles for Christ.  The S.W.A.T. ministry is designed to facilitate excellence in a single, Christian lifestyle while developing Godly relationships in order to fortify, sustain, and educate young adults to serve God and serve others.

The Cityline Church S.W.A.T. Ministry addresses the needs of both male and female singles ages 26-40 who are yet-to-be-married, engaged, “single again”, or widowed and have no children.

I would like to share a short summary/recap of what was covered on Friday as well as add a few things to what I said. We were behind schedule and were a little rushed and I don’t recall doing a recap.

In the first part of this topical discussion, we discussed several things:

• We briefly discussed the concepts of B.C. & A.D. when referring to human history on this earth.  Guys, it is important to know history.  History gives us a better understanding of the Word because it helps us to understand context.  We posed the question,”How old were the oldest books of the Old Testament?”  I gave you the age – the 12^th Century B.C.  There were many of us that didn’t understand that this meant that they were about 3,200 years old.  There are many reasons to know even this basic type of information.  I’ll give you one. If the Bible describes the age of man’s existence being somewhere around 6,000 years old, then what does this mean for us when science tell us that the earliest “ancestors” of humans date at 2,000,000 B.C.?
• Next we looked at the relevance of the Bible.  If it is so old, how can it have relevance to modern society?  To this I explained that there are many texts written by man which transcend time in their ability to offer practical advice applicable to the modern world.  The example used was “The Art of War” by Sun Tzu.  We discussed the applications this text currently has in warfare and several other fields.  If this is true of a work written by man, then how much more a work written by man but inspired by God.

*****For a concrete example of this, we can analyze the scripture where we see that men are instructed to love their wives and women are instructed to respect their husbands (Eph. 5:33).  Modern studies show the differences that exist in the emotional and psychological makeup of men and women.  Indeed, it is widely agreed that women are generally more emotional beings requiring more love, and men, having an innate desire to conquer and dominate, desire more respect.  So, we see an example of texts dated almost 2 millennia continuing to have contemporary applications and being supported by modern science and research.*****

*****One thing I would like you all to think about is this:  How does knowing historical context of the Bible help us understand it?  I will give you one example.  On Sunday, Pastor Joshua talked about the story found in Luke 7:36-50 (as well as in all the other gospels).  Here we learn about a Pharisee named Simon who invites Jesus to his home. During this visit, a prostitute washes Jesus’ feet with her tears, kisses them, and covers them in perfume.  When Pastor explained the historical context to us, we understand how little respect the Pharisee had shown Jesus by not kissing Him or offering Him water to wash His feet.  We see the depth of the prostitute’s sincerity and conviction.  We understand how dirty Jesus’ feet would have been, yet she kissed them.  We know she could have used oil or cheap perfume, yet she used that which would cost today $20,000 or more.  When we read the Bible without contextual knowledge, there is a possibility of interpreting a different message.*****

• We then began discussing the first category of the second section, which focused on issues of sexuality.  While the Bible does not specifically mention “premarital” sex, because a definitive term for this possibly did not exist in those cultures, the Bible did explicitly address the issue (you can see the verses in the notes).  The Bible categorizes premarital sex as sexual immorality.  Throughout the Bible sexual immorality is strongly condemned.  So, to say it plainly, if you’re not married you don’t have sex. The Bible describes sexual intimacy as being reserved for married couples (a man and a woman – we will discuss homosexuality at the end of this section).
• Next was the topic of physical intimacy in a relationship other than marriage.  As far as I can remember, this has always been a hot topic amongst young people.  “How far are we allowed to go?” A good way to look at this, as Pastor Joshua recently discussed, is to say that if “foreplay” is something you do before sex, then why would you engage in foreplay with a person you shouldn’t be having sex with? With that being said, physical intimacy is dangerous because it can lead to places you don’t want to go.  ****Review the “things to consider” portion of the notes at the bottom of the second page.****

That’s all for now. God Bless you all and I hope to see you all on Friday.