So brethren, we are running out of books in the Old Testament. Can you believe that each of you (depending on how often you attendted) have gone through 10 books! That's excessive!
So now I'd like ya'll to start thinking about next semester: what you'd like to go over, some areas that you'd like to touch on more, really anything in general. We'll have a little bit of time to talk about it, so please feel free to bring your ideas. If you want to go through different books, or address certain meaningful topics or questions, or find out how well Erik sings, please let us know at the next meeting!
This week's reading: Ezra 1; 9 (skim the chapters inbetween to get a feel for what goes on with the restoration of the land); Nehemiah 1; 8-9
e hënë, 21 janar 2008
e martë, 15 janar 2008
New Stuff and Old Stuff
Old Stuff:
So the assignment from last week didn't play out well due to my lack of clarity. So here's a second attempt at explaining what I'd like ya'll to do. Write out a summary/overview of each of the major themes/events from each of the books we've covered. It doesn't have to be a full paragraph with nice margins or anything; a simple list with a few words for each event will be great. We will have a quick sharing/discussion time to refresh our minds and hearts with the material we've covered, so write down enough so that you can articulate your thoughts well to others.
New Stuff:
Reading for this week!!!
We're here in Daniel now. Chapters 1; 2; 4; 9:1-19
So the assignment from last week didn't play out well due to my lack of clarity. So here's a second attempt at explaining what I'd like ya'll to do. Write out a summary/overview of each of the major themes/events from each of the books we've covered. It doesn't have to be a full paragraph with nice margins or anything; a simple list with a few words for each event will be great. We will have a quick sharing/discussion time to refresh our minds and hearts with the material we've covered, so write down enough so that you can articulate your thoughts well to others.
New Stuff:
Reading for this week!!!
We're here in Daniel now. Chapters 1; 2; 4; 9:1-19
e diel, 13 janar 2008
Hey gang,
Our friend Richard asked me a question the other day about how to grow and renew our love for God. So I shot him back this response, and I feel it would be helpful to the rest of you. So here it is.
So I did some thinking about your question last night, and I came up with this. You wanted to know where/how to start renewing your relationship with God. Here's the biggest thing I've learned in the past few years: every single day, you need to be preaching the Gospel to yourself. The Gospel is the center of our relationship with God, and we cannot let go if it. The only way we can fight sin, grow in holiness, and love God and others more is to plunge ourselves into the ocean that is the Gospel. It is impossible to live a life that thoroughly honors God and keeps us growing towards Him if we don't understand the Gospel. Here's a quick rundown of what I try to do when I preach the Gospel to myself:
1) All of mankind was created by God to live out His character in the world. We are to show how great He is by our thoughts and actions.
2) I am a horrid sinner. I desire evil things that do not only hurt myself and others, but first and foremost my sin is against God. Every one of my sins screams at God, telling Him "You're not God, I am! You are not infinitely great and glorious and holy, You are a liar and not God!!!" Not only that, but I love my sin. And because of my sin, God deserves to punish me. The whole world, in fact, deserves this judgment. We deserve to have fire come down on us from heaven and consume us; it's amazing that you or I are not in hell already.
3) God sent Jesus Christ to live a perfect life, and then to die. Jesus took our sin and our judgment because we could not do it ourselves. We cannot get rid of our sin, our guilt, and our deserving judgment. Jesus came as the ultimate sacrifice for sin. God is perfectly holy and wrathful, and our sin makes us deserving of death and hell. Yet, He is loving and merciful and gracious, and instead of sending us to hell, He sends his Son so that we can be saved from His wrath and our sin. When we believe in Him for eternal life, our sin is taken from us, and we are made righteous before God and we no longer deserve judgment and destruction. And we have been given the Holy Spirit, who works within us to keep us growing in holiness. We now have perfect, unrestricted access to God, and we no longer are deserving of judgment. We still sin, and will continue to sin as long as we are in this life, and our sin is still ugly and it offends God. But we have Jesus' perfect righteousness, and our sins can be forgiven and we do not deserve judgment. We must press on to grow in holiness, but we can do that now through God's grace and the power of the Holy Spirit.
So that wasn't very quick, but I pray it helps. One thing that preaching the Gospel to yourself every day does is that it helps to keep us humble before God and others, and it teaches us how ugly our sin is, yet God is so loving and kind in spite of it. This also means that we need to be involved in prayer and Bible reading so that we understand the Gospel correctly and be continually reminded of the great grace and kindness of our great God!
Our friend Richard asked me a question the other day about how to grow and renew our love for God. So I shot him back this response, and I feel it would be helpful to the rest of you. So here it is.
So I did some thinking about your question last night, and I came up with this. You wanted to know where/how to start renewing your relationship with God. Here's the biggest thing I've learned in the past few years: every single day, you need to be preaching the Gospel to yourself. The Gospel is the center of our relationship with God, and we cannot let go if it. The only way we can fight sin, grow in holiness, and love God and others more is to plunge ourselves into the ocean that is the Gospel. It is impossible to live a life that thoroughly honors God and keeps us growing towards Him if we don't understand the Gospel. Here's a quick rundown of what I try to do when I preach the Gospel to myself:
1) All of mankind was created by God to live out His character in the world. We are to show how great He is by our thoughts and actions.
2) I am a horrid sinner. I desire evil things that do not only hurt myself and others, but first and foremost my sin is against God. Every one of my sins screams at God, telling Him "You're not God, I am! You are not infinitely great and glorious and holy, You are a liar and not God!!!" Not only that, but I love my sin. And because of my sin, God deserves to punish me. The whole world, in fact, deserves this judgment. We deserve to have fire come down on us from heaven and consume us; it's amazing that you or I are not in hell already.
3) God sent Jesus Christ to live a perfect life, and then to die. Jesus took our sin and our judgment because we could not do it ourselves. We cannot get rid of our sin, our guilt, and our deserving judgment. Jesus came as the ultimate sacrifice for sin. God is perfectly holy and wrathful, and our sin makes us deserving of death and hell. Yet, He is loving and merciful and gracious, and instead of sending us to hell, He sends his Son so that we can be saved from His wrath and our sin. When we believe in Him for eternal life, our sin is taken from us, and we are made righteous before God and we no longer deserve judgment and destruction. And we have been given the Holy Spirit, who works within us to keep us growing in holiness. We now have perfect, unrestricted access to God, and we no longer are deserving of judgment. We still sin, and will continue to sin as long as we are in this life, and our sin is still ugly and it offends God. But we have Jesus' perfect righteousness, and our sins can be forgiven and we do not deserve judgment. We must press on to grow in holiness, but we can do that now through God's grace and the power of the Holy Spirit.
So that wasn't very quick, but I pray it helps. One thing that preaching the Gospel to yourself every day does is that it helps to keep us humble before God and others, and it teaches us how ugly our sin is, yet God is so loving and kind in spite of it. This also means that we need to be involved in prayer and Bible reading so that we understand the Gospel correctly and be continually reminded of the great grace and kindness of our great God!
e hënë, 7 janar 2008
This week. Reading. Here.
1 Kings 15 (this bit is to give ya'll a feel for how the author presents the different kings; more on that in the discussion); (if you want to read the story of Elijah it is found in chapters 17-19, but I don't plan on talking about it unless ya'll really want to); 2 Kings 17; 22-23; 25:1-21. Again, we will be skipping over a lot of material, and it would be excellent to read over all that we're skipping because there is too much good stuff in here. Please remain in prayer for one another, for we all are needy of God's grace and care. Thanks brothers, I'll see you soon.
Also, I got a crazy idea for an assignment. For the next meeting, I would like you all to go through the books we have read thus far and note some of the major events and themes that pop up. I pray this will help us to keep the big picture of the Old Testament in mind. You won't be turning it in, but write it well enough that you can share your findings with the group. Thanks men!!
1 Kings 15 (this bit is to give ya'll a feel for how the author presents the different kings; more on that in the discussion); (if you want to read the story of Elijah it is found in chapters 17-19, but I don't plan on talking about it unless ya'll really want to); 2 Kings 17; 22-23; 25:1-21. Again, we will be skipping over a lot of material, and it would be excellent to read over all that we're skipping because there is too much good stuff in here. Please remain in prayer for one another, for we all are needy of God's grace and care. Thanks brothers, I'll see you soon.
Also, I got a crazy idea for an assignment. For the next meeting, I would like you all to go through the books we have read thus far and note some of the major events and themes that pop up. I pray this will help us to keep the big picture of the Old Testament in mind. You won't be turning it in, but write it well enough that you can share your findings with the group. Thanks men!!
e martë, 1 janar 2008
Stretch out those Bibles, we're going in. How about some 1 Kings 1, 8 (feel free to graze over chapters 2-7 to get a bit more info), 9:1-9, 11-12.
Important information for this week:
Here's a list of names to help decrease the confusion (as always, pronounciation isn't too important):
David: you know who he is
Solomon: David's son and heir to the throne
Jeroboam: the guy who is given the kingdom of Israel
Rehoboam: Solomon's son and heir to the throne of Judah
After the kingdom splits we have two kingdoms. Israel is in the north, and Judah is in the south. Judah is where Jerusalem and the temple are located.
Ahijah: a prophet who tells Jeroboam that he will be king
Bathsheba: David's wife (you know, "that" wife)
A lot of our discussion will (hopefully) revolve around the kingdom, the king, prophets, and the temple. Come with questions/insights into those issues; I hope our discussions from the past few weeks will aid in your understanding of these themes. Feel free to mention Jesus and what he has to do with all this.
Important information for this week:
Here's a list of names to help decrease the confusion (as always, pronounciation isn't too important):
David: you know who he is
Solomon: David's son and heir to the throne
Jeroboam: the guy who is given the kingdom of Israel
Rehoboam: Solomon's son and heir to the throne of Judah
After the kingdom splits we have two kingdoms. Israel is in the north, and Judah is in the south. Judah is where Jerusalem and the temple are located.
Ahijah: a prophet who tells Jeroboam that he will be king
Bathsheba: David's wife (you know, "that" wife)
A lot of our discussion will (hopefully) revolve around the kingdom, the king, prophets, and the temple. Come with questions/insights into those issues; I hope our discussions from the past few weeks will aid in your understanding of these themes. Feel free to mention Jesus and what he has to do with all this.
e hënë, 24 dhjetor 2007
Christmas quote
"Man’s Maker was made man
that the Bread might be hungry,
the Fountain thirst,
the Light sleep,
the Way be tired from the journey;
that Strength might be made weak,
that Life might die.
--Augustine
that the Bread might be hungry,
the Fountain thirst,
the Light sleep,
the Way be tired from the journey;
that Strength might be made weak,
that Life might die.
--Augustine
e diel, 23 dhjetor 2007
The Every-Day Gospel
Dear Christians,
I have a few questions for ya'll:
1) Why is Christmas the biggest day of the year?
2) How does Christmas impact every other day of the year, and the way we live each day?
*I hope you guys know I'm not talking about the Westernized, materialistic view of Christmas.
I have a few questions for ya'll:
1) Why is Christmas the biggest day of the year?
2) How does Christmas impact every other day of the year, and the way we live each day?
*I hope you guys know I'm not talking about the Westernized, materialistic view of Christmas.
e hënë, 17 dhjetor 2007
e premte, 16 nëntor 2007
Christmas has come early this year
Due to scheduling conflicts, hoildays, and general life difficulties, our meetings will be cancelled this Saturday (11/17) and next Saturday (11/24).
e martë, 13 nëntor 2007
2 Samuel, part II
Chapters 9, 11, 12, 23-24. Please read chapters 13-18 at least once so you can get a flow for the story, but the discussion will not center on those chapters.
e mërkurë, 7 nëntor 2007
2 Samuel time!
We're going to be hitting chapters 1,2,4-7 this week. It might be difficult because of all these weird names and events going on, so I'll post some helps so that we won't spend the entire meeting time talking about who is who. Sola deo gloria!
e hënë, 29 tetor 2007
e hënë, 22 tetor 2007
Choice time
Ok guys, here's the deal: We were invited over to Danny Shibley's house (you guys remember him?) this Saturday for food and a movie. I don't know what time yet, but we've been invited. Is this something you guys will be able to go to, or should we still have the usual group/study time? PLEASE reply with your input.
e shtunë, 20 tetor 2007
Hell and why I don't have to go there.
This will be a (hopefully) brief reflection on forgiveness, centered on Ephesians 2:4-7 -
4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,
5 even when we were dead in our trangessions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
7 so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
Please take the time to read the above verses; otherwise, the following thoughts really have no meaning.
I am very distraught, friends. I did it again: I looked at something online I had no right to look at. I have to ask myself questions like, what is wrong with me? and it really begs the question why do I claim to serve Christ? and what could He possibly see in me?
I've lost my edge; I'm a dull blade lately. I can feel compassion, caring for others' spiritual lives, fire for God's will, ebbing away. My mind is centered around conquests: money, art project, looking good, impressing others, tv shows, owning things.
How embarrassing I'm telling all of you this. I thought I was walking with God, you guys were relying on me, I had a future in Christ. Now, I'm running on 6 months of undefeated sin and downhill slope. And I wonder, is it too late for me? Am I a lost cause, a man who will never fall under God's order and work for the coming kingdom?
It's a little hard to believe right now, but God's word tells me otherwise. If you read all of chapter 2, you will discover that we used to live as I live now: we were dead in our sins. This provides a background for verse 4 which begins, "But God..."
When I'm dead in my trangressions, the first person to make a move is God. Read on.
"...rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us...":
Yes. You read right. Rich in mercy toward the dead men. A great love for transgessors.
In verse 5 "made us alive together in Christ":
He gave us life in Christ. Let's put this on hold for a second.
Verse 6 "...raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places with Christ Jesus...":
Putting aside that Christ died to save us, we must note that Christ in God's eyes is the apple of His eye, the perfect son who obeyed his every wish. To be seated next to the son of honor, to share his company, this is the greatest acceptance the Lord could give. It would be like inviting the man who killed your wife to her funeral. It's unthinkable.
7 "...so that in ages to come...":
And this kind of good treatment never ends. It's a future-planned future-oriented relationship. He has more of His love in store for us, forever and ever et al.
Why me?
I said store away "alive in Christ," so here's one possible idea for that meaning: alive in Christ s as in awoken to His spirit. When my own life, my own actions, my own thoughts are of such imprisoning evil, and I cry out to Him, He saves me, breathes life in. He dwells inside me, o wretched man that I am. He graces me with His presence, His thoughts, His strength, His love.
So much for brevity. Thank you all for your prayers and friendship. If you can, leave me a message this week and let me know you are praying for me. I will do my best to do the same for you.
God bless.
4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,
5 even when we were dead in our trangessions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
7 so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
Please take the time to read the above verses; otherwise, the following thoughts really have no meaning.
I am very distraught, friends. I did it again: I looked at something online I had no right to look at. I have to ask myself questions like, what is wrong with me? and it really begs the question why do I claim to serve Christ? and what could He possibly see in me?
I've lost my edge; I'm a dull blade lately. I can feel compassion, caring for others' spiritual lives, fire for God's will, ebbing away. My mind is centered around conquests: money, art project, looking good, impressing others, tv shows, owning things.
How embarrassing I'm telling all of you this. I thought I was walking with God, you guys were relying on me, I had a future in Christ. Now, I'm running on 6 months of undefeated sin and downhill slope. And I wonder, is it too late for me? Am I a lost cause, a man who will never fall under God's order and work for the coming kingdom?
It's a little hard to believe right now, but God's word tells me otherwise. If you read all of chapter 2, you will discover that we used to live as I live now: we were dead in our sins. This provides a background for verse 4 which begins, "But God..."
When I'm dead in my trangressions, the first person to make a move is God. Read on.
"...rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us...":
Yes. You read right. Rich in mercy toward the dead men. A great love for transgessors.
In verse 5 "made us alive together in Christ":
He gave us life in Christ. Let's put this on hold for a second.
Verse 6 "...raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places with Christ Jesus...":
Putting aside that Christ died to save us, we must note that Christ in God's eyes is the apple of His eye, the perfect son who obeyed his every wish. To be seated next to the son of honor, to share his company, this is the greatest acceptance the Lord could give. It would be like inviting the man who killed your wife to her funeral. It's unthinkable.
7 "...so that in ages to come...":
And this kind of good treatment never ends. It's a future-planned future-oriented relationship. He has more of His love in store for us, forever and ever et al.
Why me?
I said store away "alive in Christ," so here's one possible idea for that meaning: alive in Christ s as in awoken to His spirit. When my own life, my own actions, my own thoughts are of such imprisoning evil, and I cry out to Him, He saves me, breathes life in. He dwells inside me, o wretched man that I am. He graces me with His presence, His thoughts, His strength, His love.
So much for brevity. Thank you all for your prayers and friendship. If you can, leave me a message this week and let me know you are praying for me. I will do my best to do the same for you.
God bless.
e diel, 14 tetor 2007
Let's have seconds of 1 Samuel, shall we?
For this week, we are blessed with reading 1 Samuel 15; 16; 17 (David vs. Goliath!); 24; 28; 31.
**Scheduling conflicts seem to be our new motto. How is everyone's schedule looking for this Saturday? Please reply with your timeframe for meeting this week.
**Scheduling conflicts seem to be our new motto. How is everyone's schedule looking for this Saturday? Please reply with your timeframe for meeting this week.
e hënë, 1 tetor 2007
The moment we've all been waiting for....
READING FOR THIS WEEEK!
Wipe the dust off your little Bibles, we're getting back to the study! This week we are going to be in 1 Samuel. We are going to go through chapters: 1, 3, 8, 9, 12, 13:1-14. We're planning on meeting sometime around 5:00 in the afternoon, which is a bit later than usual. It might do ya'll some good to read the other chapters once or twice to get a better flow for what goes on; if you don't, that's ok, I'll post later in the week with a summary of the events in the other chapters. Let's do it!
Wipe the dust off your little Bibles, we're getting back to the study! This week we are going to be in 1 Samuel. We are going to go through chapters: 1, 3, 8, 9, 12, 13:1-14. We're planning on meeting sometime around 5:00 in the afternoon, which is a bit later than usual. It might do ya'll some good to read the other chapters once or twice to get a better flow for what goes on; if you don't, that's ok, I'll post later in the week with a summary of the events in the other chapters. Let's do it!
e mërkurë, 26 shtator 2007
This week
I am going to be on a super-secret mission this weekend, so the regular study shall be postponed. Maybe all you guys could get together and have a sweet hang-out time or something.
e martë, 11 shtator 2007
Information!!
1) If anyone wants to change the time that we meet for group on Saturdays, please let me know. We're trying to move the meeting time back to about 11 am-3 pm. So if this time change would or wouldn't work for you, please chime in.
2) No reading for this week. You're welcome.
2) No reading for this week. You're welcome.
e martë, 4 shtator 2007
e diel, 2 shtator 2007
Reading for this week...
Judges 1-7. Taking notes will be useful to help you remember all that goes on in these chapters.
Abonohu te:
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