I have a question for us. It's a simple, honest-yet-important question:
Why are you guys still Christians? Or: Why do we still claim to be Christians?
e premte, 31 gusht 2007
e hënë, 27 gusht 2007
Reading for this week
Oh dang, we are in Joshua already! This week will have a meager 5 chapters of reading: chapters 1,2,6,7,8. Enjoy your week everybody, I hope to see you at the meeting.
UPDATE: Also, if any of you want to, I recommend reading Psalm 105 to see the people praise God for His providence and deliverance. I just read it today and it brought me to worship; I pray it does likewise to you.
UPDATE: Also, if any of you want to, I recommend reading Psalm 105 to see the people praise God for His providence and deliverance. I just read it today and it brought me to worship; I pray it does likewise to you.
e mërkurë, 22 gusht 2007
Forgiveness, Atonement, Intercession, and...Stuff
Without giving away too much of this week's discussion (as if I could possibly know or predict what we will be talking about!), a certain topic hit me today that I'll like to throw up and throw out to all ya'll.
Numbers 18:1-7 is perhaps the most amazing paragraph in the Bible. In this paragraph, God gives Israel a way to save them from Himself. To paraphrase: "I give you a priesthood so that I won't destroy you all."
So...why does God give Israel a priesthood? Why is it significant that God is the one who gives it to Israel? Let me tell you: once you understand the significance of this, then you can understand the gospel, your salvation, even Jesus.
Numbers 18:1-7 is perhaps the most amazing paragraph in the Bible. In this paragraph, God gives Israel a way to save them from Himself. To paraphrase: "I give you a priesthood so that I won't destroy you all."
So...why does God give Israel a priesthood? Why is it significant that God is the one who gives it to Israel? Let me tell you: once you understand the significance of this, then you can understand the gospel, your salvation, even Jesus.
e premte, 17 gusht 2007
Introduction to Numbers
This is a bit of review from last week:
So we are now (not us, but the Israelites) in the second year after the exodus from Egypt (10:11). After the Exodus, Israel went to Mt. Sinai and entered into the Mosaic covenant with God (Ex 19:5-6). This covenant was made with the nation of Israel, and it is a conditional covenant. The blessings of the Abrahamic covenant are now mediated by obedience to the Mosaic covenant; that is, by faithful obedience to God and His law, Israel will be blessed and be given the land God promised to their forefathers. God also gave Israel instructions for building the tabernacle, which was the center of Israel's religious practices. It was primarily God's dwelling place with His people, and religious practices like sacrifices and offerings were done there. So now we are on our way to the promised land!
So we are now (not us, but the Israelites) in the second year after the exodus from Egypt (10:11). After the Exodus, Israel went to Mt. Sinai and entered into the Mosaic covenant with God (Ex 19:5-6). This covenant was made with the nation of Israel, and it is a conditional covenant. The blessings of the Abrahamic covenant are now mediated by obedience to the Mosaic covenant; that is, by faithful obedience to God and His law, Israel will be blessed and be given the land God promised to their forefathers. God also gave Israel instructions for building the tabernacle, which was the center of Israel's religious practices. It was primarily God's dwelling place with His people, and religious practices like sacrifices and offerings were done there. So now we are on our way to the promised land!
e mërkurë, 15 gusht 2007
Meeting this week
After much head-scratching and thumb-twiddiling, a plan for this week's meeting has come about. We have tentatively planned on meeting at Sir Johnny the Buff's house around 3:00 in the afternoon, heading down to San Dimas to do a little hike, and then head back to Johnny's for some pizza. But that's not all! The real "meat" of the meeting is what we will be doing during the hike/meal.
We have given this meeting the theme of "conversation." We would like to use this meeting to stir up intentional, meaningful conversation amongst us. So, if this is not asking too much, it would be cool if we all could come with different things you'd like to talk about. Sure, that sounds a little silly, but we would like to hear what things in your life are confronting you, and we'd like to hear about them and talk about them (either events, issues, problems, back pains, etc.). You don't need a 12-page set of notes, complete with PowerPoint, but come ready to share and talk with others about what interests them. And please keep this night in prayer, as well as each of us.
We have given this meeting the theme of "conversation." We would like to use this meeting to stir up intentional, meaningful conversation amongst us. So, if this is not asking too much, it would be cool if we all could come with different things you'd like to talk about. Sure, that sounds a little silly, but we would like to hear what things in your life are confronting you, and we'd like to hear about them and talk about them (either events, issues, problems, back pains, etc.). You don't need a 12-page set of notes, complete with PowerPoint, but come ready to share and talk with others about what interests them. And please keep this night in prayer, as well as each of us.
Tear...
The saddest verse in the entire Bible (thus far)...
Numbers 14:4 "So they said to one another, 'Let us appoint a leader and return to Egypt.'"
Any thoughts?
Numbers 14:4 "So they said to one another, 'Let us appoint a leader and return to Egypt.'"
Any thoughts?
e hënë, 13 gusht 2007
For this week...
There will be no required reading this week. We will still meet, but it will be a night with a different focus. However, if anyone wants to start reading early, the reading for next week is Numbers 11-14, 16, 18:1-7, 20, 25. Also, if you are not going to be able to make it to this week's meeting (or any meeting for that matter), feel free to let me know so that we can plan accordingly. Stay tuned for any new info!
e martë, 7 gusht 2007
Exodus study #3
I don't have all the chapters picked out yet, but I'll give you what I have now.
Read: chapters 16, 17, 19, 20, 23:20-33, 40:34-38. These chapters are subject to change, but these are good for now.
Read: chapters 16, 17, 19, 20, 23:20-33, 40:34-38. These chapters are subject to change, but these are good for now.
e hënë, 6 gusht 2007
Remember
At the last meeting, one of the major themese I tried to stress was "remembrance." God wanted Israel to remember their deliverance from Egypt, so He set up a couple of festivals they would hold yearly to remember what God had done for them. Sweet.
There was a side point I wanted to add to the discussion that I felt was very pertinent to the discussion. In my reading last week, I came across a passage that takes the concept of remembrance and really drives it home for us Christians. See the passage below, 2 Peter 1:2-9:
"2Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. 3His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
5For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. 8For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins."
I hope that if you understood what Peter is writing about, you nearly choked like I did. Could it be that I am not being spiritually formed because I have forgotten my salvation, my cleansing of sins? C'mon Pete, you can't be serious! But really, could it be that we do not fully understand our salvation, what we have been saved from, and what we are heading towards?
There was a side point I wanted to add to the discussion that I felt was very pertinent to the discussion. In my reading last week, I came across a passage that takes the concept of remembrance and really drives it home for us Christians. See the passage below, 2 Peter 1:2-9:
"2Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. 3His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
5For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. 8For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins."
I hope that if you understood what Peter is writing about, you nearly choked like I did. Could it be that I am not being spiritually formed because I have forgotten my salvation, my cleansing of sins? C'mon Pete, you can't be serious! But really, could it be that we do not fully understand our salvation, what we have been saved from, and what we are heading towards?
e premte, 3 gusht 2007
Contact (not that lame movie)
Like I promised at the last meeting, here's the post where we can post all of our "other" contact info (AIM, MySpace messenger, etc.). I can be reached on AIM under the name theekevy (I'm not creative). Please add yours so we can hassle you more often!
Abonohu te:
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