tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79945571999477565342024-03-05T06:53:15.627-05:00Lakeshore Bible StudyAn amateur Bible study leader shares thoughts, resources and studies, in hopes of getting to be a better teacher.John Goldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18212162438307044259noreply@blogger.comBlogger125125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7994557199947756534.post-83858787273864053202018-03-13T21:37:00.001-04:002018-03-13T21:37:47.371-04:00Contemplative PrayerGiving a short 5 minute message tomorrow for a Lenten series on contemplative prayer, so I thought I'd try to get my ideas straight here.<div>
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I was first exposed to the ideas of contemplative prayer in some of the readings I got from my Aunt Ann Mary. Who was also the first adult to share nonfiction C. S. Lewis with me. Thomas Merton was way out of my depth, but I at least got the direction to pray in quiet with presence. Time spent out by the River Raisin (bad pun but actual name of the river in my hometown) introduced me to the Holy Spirit. I was amazed at meeting this aspect of God. My practice never became regular or formal, but it was good, and grew my connection to God.</div>
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My Catholic high school was run by the Brothers of the Holy Cross, which is not a contemplative order. But Br. Phillip taught a class on contemplative prayer, and started introducing techniques about breathing and position. This helped, because before that if I wasn't feeling it, I stopped. Now, with some disciplines, it became more possible to stick with it through distractions.</div>
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In college, I got an opportunity to go teach for the summer in the Bronx with the Christian Brothers. Also not a contemplative order, but prayer was a daily feature of house life. One of the non-monks living and working in the house, Chris, was waiting to enter the Carthusian order, which is contemplative. He taught us centering prayer, and led a session everyday. I frequently fell asleep during it, but Chris really modeled acceptance. When you're with God, He'll give you what you need. Chris also got me deeper into the literature. More Merton, but also Henri Nouwen and Basil Pennington. Pennington's book <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Centering-Prayer-Renewing-Ancient-Christian/dp/0385181795" target="_blank">Centering Prayer</a> is a good place to start for a history and how to of Christian meditative prayer.</div>
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After that summer, my spiritual director in the CBs was Br Louis, and he was a good mentor in this prayer. He had terrible back trouble, and experimented with other postures and positions. When he finally got to go back to Africa, the only thing he took with him was his kneeler a student had made for him at his perfect angle.</div>
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Somewhere in there I found Merton's <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Way-Chuang-Tzu-Second/dp/0811218511/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1520989984&sr=1-1&keywords=way+of+chuang+tzu" target="_blank">Way of Chuang Tzu</a>, which is not about prayer directly, but about Taoist understanding, which led to Merton's Zen experiences and thinking about Eastern religions and their teaching of the disciplines of contemplation. A Buddhist friend recommended <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Chogyam-Trungpa/e/B000APC6DE/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1520990112&sr=1-1" target="_blank">Chongyam Trungpa Rinpoche</a>, a Tibetan writer that taught me a lot. </div>
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In grad school I also got into Tom Brown books and survival classes. His teacher, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Grandfather-Native-Americans-Lifelong-Harmony/dp/042518174X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1520990269&sr=1-1&keywords=tom+brown+grandfather" target="_blank">Grandfather</a>, was an Apache scout and emphasized spiritual practice that was practical. That you could use while crossing a log, for example. He taught the importance of having a key, that would help you access the contemplative state when there was a need. The Grandfather book or <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Awakening-Spirits-American-Spiritual-Spirituality/dp/0425141403/ref=pd_bxgy_14_img_3?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0425141403&pd_rd_r=VR9T5XFPW7S3FPV1WN1G&pd_rd_w=zufQH&pd_rd_wg=q8SeP&psc=1&refRID=VR9T5XFPW7S3FPV1WN1G" target="_blank">Awakening Spirits</a> is the read for more on that. </div>
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Getting the chance to combine all these teachings while living on Mackinac Island, with the woods and the lake, was amazingly fortunate. While my practice has waxed and waned over the years, the benefits of time with God never go away. While some people might not recognize it as prayer, a mug of tea on the steps of McNally watching the sun rise over the Straights of Mackinac was some amazing communion.</div>
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If you're considering starting contemplative prayer, I'd encourage you to find someone(s) with whom to pray. Start with an accepting spirit, that this is a discipline that takes practice to develop. Your mind does not want to be quiet.</div>
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<li>be physically comfortable but alert. Americans often need to be sitting upright in a chair, body symmetrical, feet flat, hands at rest together up or palm down on your legs.</li>
<li>declare your intent to be with God, Father, Jesus or Holy Spirit. Some people do this with a verse or two of scripture, some with a regular prayer or dedication.</li>
<li>be quiet. As thoughts or physical distractions come into your mind, release them. Tools to let them go can be a phrase, as short as Jesus, or two part phrase for the in breath and the out breath. </li>
<li>breathe deeply. We just don't do this. All the way in, hold for a moment or not, then all the way out, gently. Never forced.</li>
<li>have a timer or signal for the end. Start for a minute, try five, work up to twenty, or not. The timer frees you from wondering about time.</li>
<li>have a key that you will be able to associate with this time. For me it's a breath pattern, for others it's beads, or a stone, or worded prayer, or a physical position. While engaged in the key, appreciate the time/sense/benefit of the time you just gave to God.</li>
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At other times, access your key and try to call to mind the spiritual state from your prayer. This strengthens the peace, encourages practice and is just plain beneficial. Talk with someone about your practice, ask questions, and be open to teaching from surprising places. There's a lot of mindfulness training now that we can use to apply to our prayer practice. Their focusing techniques and exercises can be very helpful.</div>
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John Goldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18212162438307044259noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7994557199947756534.post-60615794896308375982015-09-13T21:56:00.001-04:002015-09-13T21:56:37.774-04:00Not Everyone Should Teach<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Not a bible study per se, but this sermon from our pastor is the best I've heard on Jesus as a teacher, and what this means for us. I'm a teacher in my real life, so it hit home pretty well. Or it was a not so subtle message to me to shape up? </span></span><br />
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<a href="http://www.firstlutheranmuskegon.com/about/leadership/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Bill Uetricht</span></span></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>16 Pentecost: </b></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Isaiah 50:4-9a, Psalm 116, James 3:1-12, Mark 8:27-38</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />The arrival of Fall and the return of students to school has me thinking about my school days—my public school days at Greenhills High School in Cincinnati. Ms. Meier has been on my mind this past week. She was my French teacher. She loved the language, had a deep passion for the country of France, and, yes, also had a little edge to her—an edge that primarily was about changing the world. She was a progressive, and in Cincinnati I didn’t know many progressives. She contributed to my world being changed and enlarged.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />I also have been thinking about Ms. Schmalz. She was a short unattractive, conservative lady. She never married, in part because, I am convinced, no one could put up with her oddity and her preoccupation with gerunds, split infinitives, and dangling participles. (She was my English teacher.) If you know me, you know that odd Ms. Schmalz affected me, shaped me. The passion that came from within her and drove her became some of my passion.<br />I have also been thinking this week about Mr. Cooper. He was quite good looking; all the girls seemed to like him. He was my psychology teacher. Psychology was new in those days. Before then we were somewhat dumb when it came to understanding human behavior. Now, we were getting smart, and we were figuring people out. Mr. Cooper, however, didn’t misuse the power of this new-found knowledge. This psychology stuff had shaped him, changed him. He taught in a way that indicated that the subject matter wasn’t just some distant intellectual reality, but something real, something life-changing, something that mattered. Human behavior—its oddity, its idiosyncrasies, its predictability—all of a sudden became a big interest of mine.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />Teachers change lives. They shape the future of the world. I find it to be a bit ironic that the readings for today deal with teachers and teaching. On the weekend after school starts and the weekend when we begin Sunday School we hear all about teachers and teaching. It amazes me how the lectionary (the list of readings that we are given for each weekend) can connect so much to the lives we lead. For many in our culture, this is a week about teachers and teaching, and serendipitously, our readings seem to know that. What they have to say about both is worth our consideration.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />We start with Isaiah who tells us that the “Lord God has given [him] the tongue of a teacher.” Isaiah’s task is to speak to weary exiles in Jerusalem who aren’t so sure that they are glad to be back home. Home doesn’t look so good. They and their relatives had been elsewhere, being forced by the Babylonians to leave their home. Now they are back, and things at home aren’t stellar. Their city is a mess. Maybe they shouldn’t have come home, some of them must have been thinking. Isaiah is to be like a teacher to them. And believe it or not, one of the tasks of the teacher is to bring comfort, “to sustain the weary with a word.”</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />Interestingly, the word that is translated “teacher” can also be interpreted as “one who has been taught.” The Hebrew there is a bit problematic. But from my perspective, that interpretation is a fascinating take on what it means to be a teacher. A teacher is one who has been taught. The prophet says morning by morning God wakens him—wakens him to listen as one who has been taught. Teachers are fundamentally learners, being passionate participants in their subject. Their subject is larger than they, so they sit at its feet. They learn from it. They learn from those who know about their subject, even their students. And Isaiah would have us know, they learn from the One who is not confined by the wisdom or the understanding of the world. For me, that means that in their being taught and in their teaching they are humble. They subject themselves to something much larger than themselves. For Isaiah that something—God—is that which enables him to stay on track even when he faces such great opposition.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />James is our second experience with teachers and teaching. He warns his readers that becoming a teacher is not for everyone. “Not many of you should become teachers,” he says, “for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.” Probably his advice has to do with teaching in the church, but I think it can be understood in a broader way. James’ reluctance to allow everyone to teach is rooted in his belief that what teachers must use—their tongues—are not easily controlled. For James the tongue may be a small part of our bodies, but it has so much effect. The tongue is a fire, he says. And a big forest can be set ablaze by a tiny flame. In other words, the tongue can do great damage; it can inflict great pain. Not many people are able to control it, which is why many people shouldn’t become teachers, according to James. Teachers need to control their words; they need to keep their tongues tamed. They do impact many lives; they do shape the future with their words. So James says if you want to teach you need to know how to use your words in a way that brings blessing. And he’s not convinced that many people are capable of doing that. For him, the tongue “boasts of many exploits,” is “set on fire by hell itself.”</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />While thinking about this sermon, I picked up Parker Palmer’s book The Courage to Teach. Palmer argues that what is needed in teaching today is not the latest teaching technique, the fanciest style of imparting information, the most up-to-date technology. In a world that thinks that what is most important in life and education can be measured or quantified by tests, Palmer says what truly matters is teaching that is brought to us by teachers who have a strong identity and great integrity. You can try all of the latest tricks and still not get at what is at the center of good education: teachers and who they are and how their lives are integrated into their teaching.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />The last couple of weeks we have been hearing from Jesus that what makes us unclean is not that which originates from the outside and comes into us, but rather that which comes from within and proceeds out of us. The tongue is such an evil, the words that we speak are so harsh often because of what is inside. And inside is about our identity, who we are. The best teachers are the best human beings.<br /><br />The best teaching is not about technique. It’s about bringing your humanity, its rawness and also its settled-ness, into a deep conversation with the wisdom of the ages and the students who sit at your feet. And when your identity is strong, when it is, I believe, rooted in your status as a secure child of God, the words out of your mouths, oh teacher, oh human being, oh candidate for president, can bring not pollution, but blessing. You won’t have to be tearing people down with your words so that you feel better about yourself. You won’t have to be spewing out anger or cynicism because you have all kinds of issues that you haven’t worked out within yourself. You won’t always have to be speaking words of defense. You won’t always have to be winning the arguments. Knowing who you are, having a strong sense of your identity—and this is true for all human beings, not just teachers—will mean that with your words, your teaching, you can bring wisdom, affirmation, blessing, good news, fresh, not brackish water. You can begin to change the world, impact the future for good.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />We who are Christians can’t talk about teachers and teaching without talking about the great Rabbi, the Great Teacher: Jesus. Our gospel lesson from Mark today speaks of Jesus teaching. After Peter confesses that Jesus is the Messiah, he begins to teach them that “the Son of Man [that is, he] must undergo great suffering.” I am struck that Jesus had to teach his disciples about suffering. Sometimes suffering has to be taught. It’s not normally a part of our learning covenants. (Oh, I will become proficient at suffering at the end of the class.) And truthfully, it’s not a part of many teacher’s lesson plans. It wasn’t a part of Peter’s. That’s why he rebuked Jesus when Jesus announced to his disciples his upcoming death. Can’t be! Not suffering and death! That’s what most of us say, which is precisely why we need to sit at the feet of the Great Rabbi, the teacher of much greater wisdom than us.<br />We want to go into the world ready to conquer it, to overcome it, be victorious. Armed with ourselves, we are prepared to protect ourselves, defend ourselves, keep ourselves away from suffering and death. And the Great Rabbi says, “You are living in an illusion. If you want true life, if you want life that maters, if you want life with God, if you want life that is in keeping with who you are as a secure child of God, then suffering and death cannot be avoided. The way of that kind of life looks like a cross. It looks like death to yourself. Secure selves are not protected selves, defended selves, selves kept at a distance from risk and pain. Secure selves are those who, because they are secure, can let go of themselves for the sake of love in the world, for the sake of participation of the pain of the world and the pain of God, for the sake of the kingdom, the reign of God.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />That’s what the Great Teacher taught. And amazingly, he not only spoke those words; he lived them out. He was a teacher, as Palmer says, with great integrity. His lived life matched his words. Secure in God, he loved, he risked, he entered the pain of the world, he embraced the left out, he set his face like flint, he denied himself, he gave up his life, he went to the cross. What he said he did.<br />Jesus is the Great Teacher. Without a doubt, he has changed lives and is continuing to do so. He is shaping a new future, God’s future. Sit at his feet. Learn from him. Pick up your cross and follow him.<br /> </span></span>John Goldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18212162438307044259noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7994557199947756534.post-55680975961407874282015-04-20T14:40:00.000-04:002015-04-20T14:40:24.796-04:00George CarlinBeen watching some Carlin clips... he came up in an education reform article (a clip on why he doesn't vote, which I don't recommend), and then another clip that fit into our church's Holy Hilarity weekend. (Great tradition with a long history.) I went to look for my bible study on him on this blog, and it wasn't here. Then I noticed that it was almost a year since I posted. I was removed from my bible study because of a disagreement with the pastor on a personnel matter. But we've found a new church home, which has had great opportunities to serve and have fellowship.<br />
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The clip I sent my pastor, on euphimisms.<br />
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So, blast from the past, a study written for Carlin when he passed away.<b> </b><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Bible Study for George Carlin</b> </span></div>
George Carlin, the stand-up comedian who died in June 2008, was a deep thinker. Who else could ask, “What if there were no hypothetical questions?” But he was also deeply divisive. It would be interesting to know if he offended or entertained more people – and how many people are in both camps. He was clearly smart – he figured out “Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach him how to fish, and he will sit in a boat and drink beer all day.” He presents a real challenge to a Christian – a dedicated opponent and a creator of smart and funny arguments. We need to compare his thoughts with scripture to be on firm footing.<br />
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<b>Agreement</b><br />
Sometimes I think Carlin agreed with Christian teaching. Consider his most famous routine, 7 dirty words.<br />
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Carlin: There are some that would have you not use certain words. There are 400,000 words in the English language and there are 7 of them you can’t say on television. What a ratio that is. 399,993 to 7. They must really be bad. They’d have to be outrageous to be separated from a group that large. All of you over here, you 7, Bad Words. That’s what they told us they were, remember? “That’s a bad word!” No bad words, bad thoughts, bad intentions, and words. You know the 7, don’t you, that you can’t say on television? “*censored*” Those are the heavy seven. Those are the ones that’ll infect your soul, curve your spine, and keep the country from winning the war.<br />
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Mark 7: 14 Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. 15Nothing outside a man can make him ‘unclean’ by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him ‘unclean.’ “ … [20-23] He went on: “What comes out of a man is what makes him ‘unclean.’ For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and make a man ‘unclean.' "</blockquote>
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1) It seems like Jesus would agree that there are no bad words. So why aren’t Christians supposed to swear?<br />
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Carlin: I have as much authority as the Pope, I just don’t have as many people who believe it.<br />
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Gal 1:9-10: As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned! Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.</blockquote>
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2) George seems to be agreeing with Paul about human authority. What authority should people ever have in the church?<br />
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Carlin: “I am” is reportedly the shortest sentence in the English language. Could it be that “I do” is the longest sentence? (Note both of Carlin’s marriages lasted until death did them part.)<br />
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Matthew 9:6-9: Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.” “Why then,” they asked, “did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?” Jesus replied, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning. I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, and marries another woman commits adultery.”</blockquote>
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3) How can the church affirm marriage without being judgmental to those who have suffered divorce?<br />
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Carlin: There’s no present. There’s only the immediate future and the recent past.<br />
Mat 6:34: Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.<br />
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4) What makes it hard for you to live by Jesus’ advice? What helps you live it?<br />
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<b>The Church</b><br />
George was brought up Catholic, and became a severe critic of all organized religion. He mocked it with his creation of “Frisbeetarianism,” “the belief that when you die, your soul goes up on the roof and gets stuck.” And he commended atheism, since “Atheism is a non-prophet organization.”<br />
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1 Cor 12:27-28 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, also those having gifts of healing, those able to help others, those with gifts of administration, and those speaking in different kinds of tongues.</blockquote>
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5) If the church is going to be a for-prophet organization, what is the role of the prophet today? Do you know any?<br />
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Carlin: Religion convinced the world that there’s an invisible man in the sky who watches everything you do. And there’s 10 things he doesn’t want you to do or else you’ll go to a burning place with a lake of fire until the end of eternity. But he loves you! ...And he needs money! He’s all powerful, but he can’t handle money!<br />
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6) Is this a justifiable criticism of the church? If so how do we fix it? If not, how do we defend it?<br />
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Carlin: I’m completely in favor of the separation of Church and State. My idea is that these two institutions screw us up enough on their own, so both of them together is certain death.<br />
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The recent, heavily debated, Evangelical Manifesto states: “The other error, made by both the religious left and the religious right in recent decades, is to politicize faith, using faith to express essentially political points that have lost touch with biblical truth. That way faith loses its independence, the church becomes “the regime at prayer,” … Christian beliefs are used as weapons for political interests.”<br />
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7) What should the role of Christians and the church be in politics and government?<b> </b><br />
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<b>Faith</b><br />
Carlin: I would never want to be a member of a group whose symbol was a guy nailed to two pieces of wood.<br />
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1 Cor 1:18-19: For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”</blockquote>
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8) Obviously Paul foresaw attitudes such as Carlin’s. Why is the cross hard to accept?<br />
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Obviously the saddest thing about Carlin is to think of him dying without knowing Christ. He knew he was dying, and, characteristically, quipped about it. “I was thinking about how people seem to read the Bible a whole lot more as they get older; then it dawned on me - they’re cramming for their final exam.” And, “I’m always relieved when someone is delivering a eulogy and I realize I’m listening to it.”<br />
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9) How do you testify to someone who seems so set against even the idea of faith in Jesus?<br />
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<br />John Goldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18212162438307044259noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7994557199947756534.post-64551163109819183702014-04-12T16:29:00.002-04:002014-04-12T16:29:56.388-04:00Anne LamottToday's my first day/month missing the bible study for which I've written most of these studies. I will miss it terribly! But it was an amazing opportunity for community these last dozen years. Partly as self-therapy and partly to share, I wanted to write about seeing Anne Lamott last night.<br />
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<a href="https://twitter.com/ANNELAMOTT" target="_blank">Anne Lamott</a> is one of the few non-math people I follow on Twitter. She is laugh out loud funny, and spiritually insightful. Her book, Bird by Bird is amazing, and I have loved everything of hers I've read, with plans to read the rest. So when we heard she was coming to Calvin College's Festival of Faith and Writing 2014, we put together a group to go. (Why didn't I take a picture of them?) We had good feasting together before, and good discussion of the evening heading home.<br />
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When I attend a professional seminar, I try to live tweet it. I'm a natural note taker, and it helps me to remember as well as share. If you think of Twitter as a celebrity thing, that's one side of it; the other side of it is allowing like-minded people from all over the world to find each other and form community. <br />
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So here's my tweet-guided reminiscence of the evening. She was pretty stream-of-consciousness, but built on a couple of main themes throughout. She layered reminiscences, writing advice, insights on sobriety and professional comedian level delivery of jokes and one-liners.<br />
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Turns out she had turned 60 the day before. Not a good birthday - she attended the funeral for a young man who was a friend of her son and a former Sunday School student of hers. She had notes for her talk, but at the end of an hour of riffing, she hadn't used them much. Why talk about her recent book Stitches, for which she couldn't remember the subtitle? Because...</div>
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I love this principle. Transfer of understanding, finding connections - these things lead to deep understanding.</div>
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Building on the senselessness of the funeral she attended: </div>
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We're not going to be able to figure out what's in God's head or what Her plan is (Anne flip flops pronouns for Him, regularly). We can receive Her grace. But we have so much going on in us that prevents that reception.<br />
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Later, talking about what can you do for parents at a funeral for their child, she commented:</div>
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This was a big part of her writing advice, too. Go to the desk. Write today's pages. They won't be good, mostly. But you need a first draft. How does she edit? <br />
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What are the overwrought parts? They're where you're being particularly clever or erudite. She quoted Jessica Mitford, "You have to kill your little darlings."<br />
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So how do you learn to receive the grace? She connected it to her favorite movie, a documentary called <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080762/" target="_blank">From Mao to Mozart </a>. It records Isaac Stern (She says: I figure God either looks like Isaac Stern or Bette Midler.) on the first visit of a western musician to China in 1979.<br />
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This connects for her to the oppression of perfection, and how it keeps us from even showing up.<br />
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Probably true for anyone in a creative field, maybe just plain old true for anyone.<br />
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Cycling back to the funeral, and connecting it to showing up, and then often failing...<br />
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She gets to her own work. Surely she can have a break now. Surely she has nothing to write about. But, because she's still living and showing up there are things to write about. However, there's a warning:<br />
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In other words, be truly present when you show up. Later she picked up on this theme of excuses again. This weekend she doesn't need to go to church. (Her failing, 30 member, Presbyterian but secretly Baptist singing church.) She had the funeral. She was in Grand Rapids. She would be tired. Her pastor was away. So many reasons not to go. It's like if you don't want to get gas, you don't have to. But wait - then you won't have gas for your car. You have to show up to get hugged within an inch of your life, to have a chance to sing loudly, to get what you need.<br />
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How to deal with the young man's death with her Sunday School kids? <br />
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You do not have to do that to be loved. No preconditions. But it's what we do when we show up.<br />
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And again, we won't be able to figure it out. <br />
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But that doesn't mean that what we know isn't important. <br />
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When you're at church, or writing, or serving, you're going to be faced with your own brokenness. <br />
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She talked about sitting down to write, all your little psychological problems are going to come with you, and sit on the desk. "And, frankly, they're worried." Later, when you want to go to bed, there they are in the bed. And they've had too much caffeine.<br />
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It was a great night, awesome sharing. She was very present. One of her standard lines is:</div>
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And, as she hoped, we got a good spritzing. </div>
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P.S. She was definitely reaching out to anyone in need of sobriety, so I want to include this short video, which does a good job of touching on how she talked about stopping drinking and starting being a Christian. </div>
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John Goldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18212162438307044259noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7994557199947756534.post-19165733423745475052014-03-08T10:54:00.000-05:002015-04-20T14:41:27.499-04:00In Vulnerabilitya Bible Study based on a TED talk<br />
<a href="http://ted.com/talks/brene_brown_on_vulnerability" target="_blank">ted.com/talks/brene_brown_on_vulnerability</a> or <a href="http://brenebrown.com/" target="_blank">brenebrown.com</a><br />
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Brené Brown is a Social Work
research professor. She has two talks on TED.com, Oprah appearances and a
basket of books. Not where bible studies usually start. But this one on
vulnerability – without ever mentioning God – had so many connections
to the gospel that we’re trying it as a bible study. It’s one of those
situations where people do research and find out something new and
startling that Jesus told us 2000 years ago.<br />
<br />
“So where I started
was with connection. Because, by the time you're a social worker for 10
years, what you realize is that connection is why we're here. It's what
gives purpose and meaning to our lives. This is what it's all about. It
doesn't matter whether you talk to people who work in social justice and
mental health and abuse and neglect, what we know is that connection,
the ability to feel connected, is -- neurobiologically that's how we're
wired -- it's why we're here.”<br />
<br />
Matthew 5:14-16 “You are the light
of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do
people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its
stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way,
let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds
and glorify your Father in heaven.”<br />
<br />
John 15:12-15 “My command is
this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than
this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if
you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant
does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends,
for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.”<br />
<br />
1) Why does our relationship with God involve other people? Why can’t we just deal with Jesus or the father?<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
“When
you ask people about belonging, they'll tell you their most
excruciating experiences of being excluded. And when you ask people
about connection, the stories they told me were about disconnection. …
so I pulled back out of the research and thought, I need to figure out
what this is. And it turned out to be shame. And shame is really easily
understood as the fear of disconnection: Is there something about me
that, if other people know it or see it, that I won't be worthy of
connection? The things I can tell you about it: it's universal; we all
have it. The only people who don't experience shame have no capacity for
human empathy or connection.”<br />
<br />
2) With what kind of shame do you struggle? Brown talks about the feeling of “I am not _______ enough.”<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Matthew 5 & 6<br />
21-22
“You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not
murder,[a] and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I
tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be
subject to judgment.”<br />
28 “But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”<br />
34 “But I tell you, do not swear an oath at all.”<br />
44 “But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven.”<br />
48 “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”<br />
<br />
3) If none of us can do what Jesus is asking here, why is he so intent on bringing us down?<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Romans
10:9-13 “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe
in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For
it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with
your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. As Scripture
says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.” For there
is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all
and richly blesses all who call on him, for, “Everyone who calls on the
name of the Lord will be saved.” ”<br />
<br />
4) How do you deal with shame as a Christian? <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Brown
studied shame, then, for years. “that's what this comes down to, a
sense of worthiness -- they have a strong sense of love and belonging --
and folks who struggle for it, and folks who are always wondering if
they're good enough. There was only one variable that separated the
people who have a strong sense of love and belonging and the people who
really struggle for it. And that was, the people who have a strong sense
of love and belonging believe they're worthy of love and belonging.
That's it. They believe they're worthy.” <br />
<br />
Romans 5:1-8
“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace
with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained
access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in
the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our
sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;
perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us
to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through
the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. You see, at just the right
time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very
rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person
someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love
for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”<br />
<br />
5) Do we – or more to the point - can we be worthy of love and belonging? How does this relate to your faith?<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
So
Brown wondered who had that worthiness. “What they had in common was a
sense of courage … the original definition was to tell the story of who
you are with your whole heart. And so these folks had, very simply, the
courage to be imperfect. They had the compassion to be kind to
themselves first and then to others, because, as it turns out, we can't
practice compassion with other people if we can't treat ourselves
kindly. And the last was they had connection, and – this was the hard
part – as a result of authenticity, they were willing to let go of who
they thought they should be in order to be who they were.”<br />
<br />
Ephesians 4:32 “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”<br />
<br />
6) What are the connections amongst being courageous, being compassionate and being authentic for you or in our faith life?<br />
<br />
“The
other thing that they had in common was this: They fully embraced
vulnerability. They believed that what made them vulnerable made them
beautiful. They didn't talk about vulnerability being comfortable, nor
did they really talk about it being excruciating -- as I had heard it
earlier in the shame interviewing. They just talked about it being
necessary. They talked about the willingness to say, "I love you" first,
the willingness to do something where there are no guarantees, the
willingness to breathe through waiting for the doctor to call after your
mammogram. They're willing to invest in a relationship that may or may
not work out. They thought this was fundamental.”<br />
<br />
Galations 5:22-26<br />
But
the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things
there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the
flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us
keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking
and envying each other.<br />
<br />
7) Where are you able to be vulnerable? When is it hard?<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
“I
spent the next couple of years really trying to understand what they,
the whole-hearted, what choices they were making, and what are we doing
with vulnerability. Why do we struggle with it so much? Am I alone in
struggling with vulnerability? No. So this is what I learned. We numb
vulnerability.”<br />
<br />
8)
Brown mentions many ways we numb. She mentions specifically one for
churches: “Religion has gone from a belief in faith and mystery to
certainty. I'm right, you're wrong. Shut up. That's it. Just certain.”
Is that a fair description? How else might we as believers try to numb
vulnerability?<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Brown closes with this: “This is what I
have found: to let ourselves be seen, deeply seen, vulnerably seen; to
love with our whole hearts, even though there's no guarantee -- and
that's really hard, and I can tell you as a parent, that's
excruciatingly difficult -- to practice gratitude and joy in those
moments of terror… And the last, which I think is probably the most
important, is to believe that we're enough. Because when we work from a
place, I believe, that says, "I'm enough," then we stop screaming and
start listening, we're kinder and gentler to the people around us, and
we're kinder and gentler to ourselves.”<br />
<br />
Phillipians 4:10-14 “The
Lord has filled me with joy because you again showed interest in me. You
were interested but did not have an opportunity to show it. I’m not
saying this because I’m in any need. I’ve learned to be content in
whatever situation I’m in. I know how to live in poverty or prosperity.
No matter what the situation, I’ve learned the secret of how to live
when I’m full or when I’m hungry, when I have too much or when I have
too little. I can do everything through Christ who strengthens me.
Nevertheless, it was kind of you to share my troubles.”<br />
<br />
9)
This is one place where a Christian might really phrase it differently
than Brown. It’s not that we are enough alone, but because God is with
us we are enough. What difference does that make?<br />
<br />
10) What other scripture or parts of our faith does Brown’s summation remind you of?<br />
<br />
11) How might courage and vulnerability help us to share Christ with our neighbors?<br />
<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.vectortemplates.com/raster/superman-logo-012.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://www.vectortemplates.com/raster/superman-logo-012.png" height="243" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Maybe Superman is hard to relate to.</span><i><br /></i></td></tr>
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<i>Resources</i>: <a href="http://www.openbible.info/" target="_blank">Open Bible Info</a> was helpful in chasing down these passages.<br />
<br />John Goldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18212162438307044259noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7994557199947756534.post-8093886125716978222014-03-08T10:10:00.000-05:002014-03-08T10:10:07.502-05:00Galatians<span style="font-family: inherit;">Though everyone agrees Paul wrote this letter, there are three views as to when and where he might have written it: from Ephesus or Macedonia ca 55 AD or from Syrian Antioch ca. 48 AD or from Ephesus or Corinth between ca. 52 AD. Probably it was to a group of churches in the southern part of Galatia, including Antioch, Derbe, Iconium, and Lystra (cf. Acts 13-14), all of which were founded by Paul on his first or second missionary journeys. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Part of the letter is a response to a group called Judaizers, who were insisting on traditional Jewish practice. They claimed Paul removed those requirements just to make the message more popular and this proved he wasn’t a true apostle. Paul’s response is strong, to say the least (Gal 1:1-2, 11-17). </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">In later times, the book of the Galatians played an important part of the reformation. Though it was Romans that began Luther’s personal awakening, he based much of his theology on Galatians, to the point that one of the nicknames for Galatians is “Luther’s Book.”</span><br />
<br />
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<a href="http://theologygrams.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/galatians.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://theologygrams.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/galatians.png" height="384" width="640" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">From <a href="http://theologygrams.wordpress.com/2013/09/20/148/" target="_blank">theologygrams</a>, a fun site.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Paul’s authority: read Gal 1:11-24. Since he was previously in the position of persecuting Christians, Paul had undoubtedly heard some of there testimony. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Side note</i>: Paul in 1:15 is paralleling his ministry with Jeremiah (Jer 1:5) </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">1) What does Paul mean that he heard the gospel by revelation and not from people? Why does he make that point?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">2) What is important about the information that Paul didn’t go to Jerusalem for 3 years, and then only met James and Peter?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">3) Why does Paul remind these people about his past as a persecutor when he wants them to accept his authority?<br /> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The dissension: read Gal 2:11-21. After noting that his message was approved by the original apostles, Paul tells about this big conflict with them. The big idea seems to be to add no work to the requirements of salvation. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">4) What works are you tempted to add to the requirements for salvation, or have you seen others require?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">5) How was the conflict resolved?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The dressing down: read Gal 3:1-5. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">6) Is Paul wrong to address people this harshly? If not, what could make such harsh words okay? (Imagine being addressed that way by a pastor.)</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Unity of Old and New Testaments: read Gal 3:6-9 and 3:26-4:7. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">7) What does this say about righteousness? What does this say about us?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">How to live: read Gal 5:1 and 5:13-25. Paul warns, “I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.” (v21) </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">8) Why does this not conflict with Paul’s message of righteousness by faith?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">9) How do you view the fruit of the spirit? Something to strive for, or something to wait for, or something else?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The big finish: read Gal 6:1-10. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">10) Share what this means to you.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">11) This is a favorite book of many people. Is there something we left out that you would like to share?<br /><br />I have to share the paraphrasing of the close of this book in the Message: Gal 6:17-18</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Quite frankly, I don't want to be bothered anymore by these disputes. I have far more important things to do—the serious living of this faith. I bear in my body scars from my service to Jesus. May what our Master Jesus Christ gives freely be deeply and personally yours, my friends. Oh, yes!</span></blockquote>
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Amen!<br /></span>John Goldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18212162438307044259noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7994557199947756534.post-33894335342009512502014-01-12T09:58:00.003-05:002014-01-12T09:58:44.601-05:00May We Come In?(The study is a bit of a mess, but it really engendered a good discussion. People were interested in the wise men and all the extra layers we have put on top of the story of the first Epiphany.)<br />
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<br />Epiphany is Greek for Revelation, and is usually taken to refer to the arrival of the wise men to worship Jesus. As a Church feast day, it is the celebration of Jesus coming to the gentiles as well as the Jews.<br /><br />Long before Christ, Jewish prophecy held that the Messiah was not going to be for the Chosen people alone. Read Psalm 68:28-35, a psalm of David. <br />1) Suddenly David shifts in this psalm from describing what God will do to addressing ‘you’. Who is you? Why do you think so?<br /><br /><br />2) Is there anything here to make this be the Lord is for those other nations instead of just dominating or conquering them?<br /><br /><br />3) This psalm is probably partly responsible for people describing the Magi as three kings. Do you think of the Magi as kings? Does it make a difference in understanding the story if they aren’t?<br /><br /><br />Psalm 72 is commonly included in Epiphany liturgies. Tradition holds that king and king’s son refer to the Messiah. Let’s read it now.<br />4) The psalm clearly says by Solomon, but also by David. What do you think might be the case?<br /><br /><br />5) What characteristics do you see that we usually associate with Jesus? <br /><br /><br />6) Are there any characteristics that are different from how we usually see Jesus?<br /><br /><br />7) With this as one of the main messianic texts, what would you have been expecting in the Messiah?<br /><br /><br />A lot of messianic prophecy is found in Isaiah. Isaiah’s prophecy begins during the reign of King Uzziah, around 750 BC. Uzziah (along with Jehosophat) was one of the two most successful kings after Solomon. The first mention of other countries worshipping the Lord is in Isaiah 19. Read vv 18-25.<br />8) What makes this sound like Egypt joining in instead of being ruled over? What else do you notice?<br /><br /><br /><br />Isaiah 60 is another passage strongly associated with Epiphany liturgies. Let’s read the whole chapter.<br />9) What connections do you see between this and Epiphany?<br /><br /><br /><br />10) What makes this sound like a prophecy about the messiah to you? What do we learn about the messiah from it?<br />
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<tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption">Image: Jones_04 @ Flickr</td></tr>
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<br />
The story of the magi only appears in the gospel of Matthew. There are only 6 other unique passages of Matthew, including three parables (vineyard workers, ten virgins and the sheep and goats) and the Roman guards reporting the empty tomb. Let’s read Matthew 2:1-18. <br />11) One thing to notice is what’s not in this story. What has been added to it in the way we usually imagine it?<br /><br /><br />The word used for Jesus in v. 8 and 9 here is not used for an infant, but for a weaned child. <br />12) If it was a significant time after the shepherds, what might that have meant to Mary? (Is it significant that Joseph is not mentioned here?)<br /><br /><br />The word used for the Magi is, well, magi. At that time, it seems like it was used in Greek to describe priests of Zorastrianism. That’s a Persian religion that worships a good god who is in opposition to an evil god; they were very involved in astrology. <br />13) Whether Zoroastrians or not, what does it mean for acolytes of another religion to come worship the Jewish messiah?<br /><br /><br />Balaam (of donkey fame) prophesies in Numbers 24:17<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“I see someone who is not here now. I look at someone who is not nearby. A star will come from Jacob. A scepter will rise from Israel. He will crush the heads of the Moabites and destroy all the people of Sheth.” </blockquote>
Early church fathers believed that was a reference to the Star of Bethlehem. Interestingly Balaam was a rarity – a gentile prophet. Was the star mystical? It rises (v.2) – normal star behavior – but then points them to a specific location (v.9) – that’s unusual. <br />14) Is there anything for us to learn from this stellar detail?<br /><br /><br />The three gifts are probably responsible for thinking of three magi. Gold you know about. Frankincense is a tree resin that is used in perfumes, incense (including use in both the 1st and 2nd temples), and a medicine. Myrrh is the odd duck here – though it is also a tree resin, used in perfume, incense and medicine and quite valuable. (At times worth more than gold!) But it has strong connotation with embalming rituals. One reflection on this passage reminds us of the fourth gift: worship. <br />15) What meaning do the gifts have for you? Can we use this as a model for what we can give to Jesus?<br /><br /><br />For me personally, some of these details take me away from what I love about the story of the Magi. God coming for those we wouldn’t expect, and surprising people coming to Christ. <br />16) Who has surprised you in your faith walk?<br /><br /><br /><br />Overtime: if we have more time, it would be worth looking at the “apostle to the gentiles.” Paul wrote powerfully about Jesus coming for the whole world.<br />17) Read Ephesians 3:1-12. What do you notice? What connections can you make with the magi?<br /><br /><br />John Goldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18212162438307044259noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7994557199947756534.post-18532212296979757682014-01-12T09:51:00.000-05:002014-01-12T09:51:01.423-05:00Grandmama<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e0/St_Denis_transept_south.jpg/800px-St_Denis_transept_south.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e0/St_Denis_transept_south.jpg/800px-St_Denis_transept_south.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Rose window on south end of transpet arm, <br />St. Denis Cathedral, St. Denis, France. <br />The stained glass depicts the Tree of Jesse.</span></td></tr>
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(Behind on posting again! Sorry! This was a good Christmastime study based on the genealogy of Jesus given in Matthew. Inspired more than a little by a <a href="http://experimentaltheology.blogspot.com/2013/12/where-god-begins.html" target="_blank">Richard Beck post</a> at his Experimental Theology blog.)<br /><br />Matthew’s (MT 1:1-17) and Luke’s (LK 3:23-38) gospels both offer a genealogy for Jesus. They differ – a lot. Luke’s is backwards from Joseph (Jesus’ dad) to Adam, Matthew’s is forwards from Abraham. There’s a small difference from Judah to Amminadab. But then the lines from David to Jesus are completely different, including different fathers for Joseph!<br /><br />One explanation for this is that Jewish law at the time encouraged brothers to marry their widowed sister-in-law if they had no children (or sons), called Levirate marriage. Any children from the new marriage were referred to as children of the deceased brother. Another possibility is that Joseph and Mary moved into Mary’s house, making her father a father to Joseph, meaning one of the genealogies could be Mary’s.<br /><br />
1) What do these kind of seeming conflicts mean to you? Are they worth much attention or emphasis?<br /><br /><br /><br />Another real oddity for the time period is that Matthew explicitly mentions women in his genealogy. And these are interesting people to include.<br /><br />“Judah and Tamar were the father and mother of Perez and Zerah.” (MT 1:3) Tamar’s story is not one of the most retold of the bible. Just after chapter 37’s attack on Joseph, son of Jacob, by his brothers, (where Judah says “What will we gain by killing our brother and covering up his death? 27 Let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites. Let’s not hurt him, because he is our brother, our own flesh and blood.”) is the story of Tamar. Read Genesis 38.<br />
<br />2) In some bibles this is titled Judah’s sin. What was Judah’s sin?<br /><br /><br />3) What do you think of Tamar and her actions?<br /><br /><br />4) Other ideas or questions? (What is the red yarn about?)<br /><br /><br />“Salmon and Rahab were the father and mother of Boaz.” (MT 1:5) Rahab might be more familiar. Read Joshua 2 and Joshua 6:22-25. Salmon is five or six generations descended from Perez, son of Judah.<br />
<br />5) Why did Rahab do as she did? <br /><br /><br />6) Anything else you noticed or wondered about in the story?<br /><br /><br />“Boaz and Ruth were the father and mother of Obed.” (MT 1:5) Ruth, of course, has her own book of the bible. Ruth is the answer to trivia questions, since hers is one of only two books named for women, and the only name-book whose protagonist is not a Jew. In chapter 1 we hear how Naomi went to Moab, married a Moabite, had two sons who married – and then all three men died. The daughters-in-law wanted to stay with Naomi as she returned to Israel, but Naomi told them not to. Ruth did anyway. In chapter 2, they have returned but things are hard. It’s harvest time, so Naomi sends Ruth out to the fields to pick up the scraps missed by the harvesters. Boaz, a distant relative of Naomi’s, without knowing who Ruth was, instructs his people to be kind to her. Read Ruth 3 and 4. (The genealogy in Ruth 4, by the way, agrees with Matthew’s, not Luke’s.)<br />
<br />7) Uncovering the feet is thought by most analysts to be a way of referring to sex. Is there anything in the text to support that idea?<br /><br /><br />8) What do you think of Ruth and Naomi’s plan?<br /><br /><br />9) Anything else you noticed or wondered about in this story?<br /><br /><br />“David and Uriah’s wife Bathsheba were the father and mother of Solomon.” (MT 1:6) Here’s where the gospel genealogy makes a difference. Luke’s history goes through David’s son Nathan (mentioned in 2 Sam 5:14 as one older than Solomon). Bathsheba’s more familiar story is in 2 Samuel 11:1-17, and 2 Samuel 12:13-25. (Read if time.) But she finally has a speaking part in 1 Kings 1:1-40.<br />10) what do you think of Bathsheba’s actions?<br /><br /><br />11) Anything else you noticed or wondered about in this story?<br /><br /><br />So those are Jesus’ named female ancestors.<br />12) What do they have in common?<br /><br /><br />13) Why might Matthew have included them specifically in the genealogy?<br /><br /><br />In the Richard Beck article that inspired this study, he writes: <br />
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“But I think a more interesting way to read the genealogy is that Matthew is trying to highlight the scandal. Presumably, God could have entered the world in a variety of fashions. We know Jesus enters the world under humble circumstances (peasant parents, occupied outpost of the Roman world, born in a stable, refugees in Egypt, raised in a backwater town, etc.). But what does it mean that God enters the world under the cloud of moral scandal? God chooses to enter the world in the middle of small town gossip. (And if you've ever lived in a small town you know exactly what that is like.) What does it say about God in this choosing to enter the world under these particular circumstances? I think it is a hint about where and how God begins God's work in the world. Then, as now, God doesn't start in churches. Nor does God start in world capitals or with superpowers. God doesn't start with the talented, powerful, rich, or famous. Rather, God starts with the poor, the alien, the immigrant, the person on the street out in the cold. And God starts in the midst of moral scandal and gossip. God starts in the place of social shame and moral blame. God starts with an unmarried pregnant teenager. A human being--along with her embarrassing "situation"--still shunned, shamed and shut away in our churches. </blockquote>
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Where does God begin? Here, in the place the religious and the powerful least expect it.”</blockquote>
<br />14) Whether that was Matthew’s intent or not, what does that mean for us today, this Christmas?<br />
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Of course, I had to try to make a visual comparison of the geneaologies. So... <br />
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<br />John Goldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18212162438307044259noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7994557199947756534.post-45009682282785456692013-11-09T10:39:00.002-05:002013-11-09T10:39:48.273-05:00Abram Gets His HaPart II<br />
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Abram+ha<br />
<br /><a href="http://ghbiblestudy.blogspot.com/2013/11/abram.html" target="_blank">In Part I</a> we studied Abram up to God’s fourth promise to Abraham, which is the first sealed as a covenant. God alone walks through the divided animals, symbolized as a torch and a smoldering pot. This was in response to Abram’s complaint that he was going to die without children, so what did it really matter that God was going to give him great things and bless his descendants. Abram’s reaction to this is not recorded.<br />0) What might your reaction be to a huge promise from God that doesn’t seem possible?<br /><br /><br />Read Genesis 16.<br />1) What do you think of Sarai’s actions here?<br /><br /><br /><br />Next we see the second covenant (fith promise) between God and Abram. God renames Abram (‘Exalted Father’) to Abraham (‘Father of Many’) and Sarai to Sarah (both mean ‘High Born Lady,’ or princess even, and the change is from the specific to the general, as she is to be the mother of a nation). Read Genesis 17.<br />2) Isaac means ‘he laughs.’ Is this chapter proof that God has a sense of humor? (Puns in particular?)<br />3) What is the meaning of God’s choice of Isaac over Ishmael for his new covenant?<br /><br /><br /><br />When Moses comes down from the mountain after the 2nd 40 days, he tells the people:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Deuteronomy 10:15-22:The Lord set his heart on your ancestors and loved them. Because of this, today he chooses you, their descendants, out of all the people of the world. So circumcise your uncircumcised hearts, and don’t be impossible to deal with any longer. The Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, powerful, and awe-inspiring God. He never plays favorites and never takes a bribe. He makes sure orphans and widows receive justice. He loves foreigners and gives them food and clothes. So you should love foreigners, because you were foreigners living in Egypt. Fear the Lord your God, worship him, be loyal to him, and take your oaths in his name. He is your glory. He is your God, who did for you these spectacular and awe-inspiring deeds you saw with your own eyes. When your ancestors went to Egypt, there were 70 of them. Now the Lord your God has made you as numerous as the stars in the sky.</blockquote>
4) Why might God have chosen circumcision as a sign of Abraham’s 2nd covenant?<br />(See Ephesians 2 for why we do not need circumcision now.)<br /><br /><br /><br />Read Genesis 18. (Sixth promise.)<br />5) Who is the Lord in this story?<br />6) How and why does God allow the pleadings of humans (Abraham here, or us in prayer) to change His actions?<br /><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">New Yorker, came out the week of Part I.</td></tr>
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Now the crux of the story: Genesis 22:1-18. (Seventh promise.)<br />7) What do you envision when you hear this story?<br />
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<br /><br />8) How might Abraham have been able to do this?<br />
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<br />9) In what ways does God call us to sacrifice today?<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />
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Hebrews 11:8-19<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Faith led Abraham to obey when God called him to go to a place that he would receive as an inheritance. Abraham left his own country without knowing where he was going. Faith led Abraham to live as a foreigner in the country that God had promised him. He lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who received the same promise from God. Abraham was waiting for the city that God had designed and built, the city with permanent foundations. Faith enabled Abraham to become a father, even though he was old and Sarah had never been able to have children. Abraham trusted that God would keep his promise. Abraham was as good as dead. Yet, from this man came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the grains of sand on the seashore.<br />All these people died having faith. They didn’t receive the things that God had promised them, but they saw these things coming in the distant future and rejoiced. They acknowledged that they were living as strangers with no permanent home on earth. Those who say such things make it clear that they are looking for their own country. If they had been thinking about the country that they had left, they could have found a way to go back. Instead, these men were longing for a better country—a heavenly country. That is why God is not ashamed to be called their God. He has prepared a city for them.</blockquote>
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<br />When God tested Abraham, faith led him to offer his son Isaac. Abraham, the one who received the promises from God, was willing to offer his only son as a sacrifice. God had said to him, “Through Isaac your descendants will carry on your name.” Abraham believed that God could bring Isaac back from the dead. Abraham did receive Isaac back from the dead in a figurative sense.</blockquote>
<br />Galatians 3:6-9<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Abraham serves as an example. He believed God, and that faith was regarded as the basis of Abraham’s approval by God. You must understand that people who have faith are Abraham’s descendants. Scripture saw ahead of time that God would give his approval to non-Jewish people who have faith. So Scripture announced the Good News to Abraham ahead of time when it said, “Through you all the people of the world will be blessed.” So people who believe are blessed together with Abraham, the man of faith.</blockquote>
10) What does it mean for us to live in faith? How does it matter? How will it show?<br /><br /><br /><br />After this, the story tells us that Sarah died, Abraham sent a servant to find a wife for Isaac, and then he married again! Keturah bore him six more sons, and it sounds like there were sons by concubines as well; before he died, he gave them gifts and sent them away. But “Abraham left everything he had to Isaac.”<br />
<br />Genesis 25:7-11<br />
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Abraham lived 175 years. Then he took his last breath, and died at a very old age. After a long and full life, he joined his ancestors in death. His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah…There Abraham was buried with his wife Sarah. After Abraham died, God blessed his son Isaac, who settled near Beer Lahai Roi.</blockquote>
11) “After a long and full life” indeed! What do you take away from this story of Abram’s beginnings? <br />12) What could be said about you after your life that would bring you joy?<br />John Goldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18212162438307044259noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7994557199947756534.post-77041267888703781712013-11-09T10:31:00.002-05:002013-11-09T10:40:53.861-05:00AbramWe did a two part - hence two month study - on Abraham. Got to some very good and deep thinking by the guys in the men's group. Recommend these two.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">photo: Howard Lifshitz @ Flickr</td></tr>
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<b>Abram</b><br />
In Jewish synagogues, this is the season of studying Abraham. <br />
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In Genesis, the flood is the first major division in history. Noah and his sons multiply, Babel is built and falls, and Noah’s 10 generations of descendants find themselves in a pluralistic society where polytheism flourishes. It’s not clear whether Noah’s descendants kept the faith or not.<br />
Most traditions have Abram being born near the year 2000 BC. I made a spreadsheet interested in those ages between Noah and Abraham.<br />
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Notice that when Abram is born, Shem is alive! Terah had moved them away, but this raises the possibility that Abram or Terah knew someone on the Ark. I do not take Old Testament ages as literal numbers, but the ideas and relationships here are significant.<br />
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Read Genesis 11:27-32.<br />
1) What are the important relationships here?<br />
2) Does it sound like Terah first got the call that Abram answers later?<br />
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Canaan was Noah’s cursed grandson, Ham’s son. Lands are named after people who live there, who are often named after a first ancestor. Read Genesis 12:1-9<br />
3) How would you react to these promises? Would you go? Would you need proof?<br />
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One Jewish teaching story (Midrash), which also is in the Koran, says that Terah was a manufacturer of idols, and Abram – as a child – beheaded them, then placed the hammer in the hand of the last one. Terah accuses Abram, but has to admit that they are only clay to do so.<br />
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Because of the fertilizing properties of the Nile, and the advanced state of agriculture, Egypt was protected against the worst of the droughts. Note that while this is often described as Abram’s lie, it is in fact true, as he reveals in 20:12 that Sarai is his half-sister. Read Genesis 12:10-20.<br />
4) What are we to make of this story? Why include an embarrassing story like this in scripture about your patriarch?<br />
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So Abram goes back to Canaan, but now he and Lot have so many flocks and followers that the site is not big enough for both of them, and they have to divide it up. Then God makes another amazing promise to Abram. Read Genesis 13:8-18. <br />
5) Why Abram? What might God have been looking for?<br />
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There is a very interesting meeting here, as Abram meets Melchizedek. Many scholars think the name Melchizedek means ‘Zedek is my king,’ where Zedek is a Canaanite name for the God Most High. The name God Most High in verse 18 is a translation of El Elyom, another early name for God. Salem is almost certainly ancient Jerusalem. Melchizedek is mostly of interest because of the psalms prophecy (Ps 110:4) that the Messiah will be a priest of the order of Melchizedek, in contrast to being a priest by being a descendant of Levi, which would not be possible for a descendant of David, since David wasn’t a Levite.)<br />
Read Genesis 14:13-20. <br />
6) What do you think is going on between Abram and Melchizedek here? What is the significance of this meeting?<br />
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Read Genesis 15.<br />
7) What is righteousness (v. 6)? Why does Abram’s belief count as righteousness?<br />
8) Is it okay to ask God for a sign, as Abram does in v. 8? If so, when is it okay?<br />
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It is here that God’s promise is first called a covenant. The Hebrew word here is berith, whose root means ‘to cut.’ This refers to the sign of a covenant, which was to divide an animal and walk together between the parts. This was a symbol of a covenant in the ancient world that predates Abram by many centuries. Some sources believe it symbolized the walk unto death together, others saw it as giving one the right of death should the other break the covenant. <br />
9) What might be the meaning of the smoking firepot and the blazing torch? Why did only God walk through the covenant and not Abraham?<br />
10) What might God’s purpose have been in not giving the land to Abram right then? <br />
11) Anything else you notice or wonder about here?<br />
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That's about as far as we got! <a href="http://ghbiblestudy.blogspot.com/2013/11/abram-gets-his-ha.html" target="_blank">See Part II</a> for more.<br />
<br />John Goldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18212162438307044259noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7994557199947756534.post-13435418478861058562013-09-14T12:22:00.002-04:002013-09-14T12:22:44.550-04:00Faith and Reason<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Acts 17:1-4 When Paul and his companions had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue. As was his custom, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead. “This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Messiah,” he said. 4 Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a large number of God-fearing Greeks and quite a few prominent women. (And then in 17:16-17:34)</blockquote>
1) Do logical arguments for ideas in our faith appeal to you or not interest you? Why or why not?<br />
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Faith and reason are often portrayed as mortal enemies. (But Paul obviously would oppose this idea.) Definitely this is a perceived struggle since the Enlightenment. Probably since Galileo Galilei. <br />
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<b>Firm Foundation</b><br />
In 1616 the arguments against Copernicus’ theory that the earth went around the sun reached a fever pitch. Galileo went to Rome to defend it, but the church decided against it, based on three lines of scripture.<br />
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Psalm 93:1 The Lord reigns, he is robed in majesty; the Lord is robed in majesty and armed with strength; indeed, the world is established, firm and secure.<br />
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Psalm 96:10 Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns.” The world is firmly established, it cannot be moved; he will judge the peoples with equity.<br />
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1 Chronicles 16:30 Tremble before him, all the earth! The world is firmly established; it cannot be moved.</blockquote>
2) How do you interpret these? Why do they not mean that the sun goes around the earth?<br />
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Opposition seemed to be loosening, encouraging Galileo to write about the idea as a theory. But the climate shifted suddenly, and in 1633 Galileo was tried and convicted of heresy, condemned to spend the rest of his life in house arrest. He died in 1648, having used that time to great effect, and is now called the father of physics.<br />
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Galileo held the Bible to be true, but did not take every passage literally, especially scripture that is a book of poetry. He believed Scripture true in that the sun does rise and set – the writers were describing what they saw. So he believed that science did not contradict Scripture, as Scripture was discussing a different kind of movement of the earth, and not rotations.<br />
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<b>Faith</b><br />
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Hebrews 11:1-3 Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for. By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.</blockquote>
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The rest of Chapter 11 is about the faith of the heroes of the Old Testament. Then Chapter 12 begins:<br />
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Hebrews 12:1-3 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. Take a minute to read or skim the rest of the chapter.</blockquote>
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3) How does the faithfulness of other believers, from scripture or in your life, encourage you?<br />
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<b>Reconciliation</b><br />
Thomas Aquinas, ca 1250, was first nicknamed by his fellow monks the “dumb ox,” but later proved to be one of the greatest thinkers in human history. He thought doctrine needed to be based on scripture, and worked on both through faith and reason. Faith and reason are both necessary, because truth that can be reached with reason does not need faith, and there were truths that were entirely beyond reason, like eternal salvation. Two quotes by him help here: “To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.” and “All that is true, by whomsoever it has been said has its origin in the Spirit.”<br />
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Studying scripture he thought about its truth in two (or four) ways: historical/literal truth and spiritual truth. Spiritual truths he divided up into three categories, allegorical – like when the old testament writers wrote about Jesus, moral – like when Jesus modeled for us how to live, and anagogical. Anagogical is his term for a teaching about what is yet to come, like Revelation. All the scripture dealing with salvation, he felt, is literal, and literal scripture holds a special place.<br />
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<b>Scientific Scripture</b><br />
One bit of scripture revered by many faithful scientists is Psalm 19. Let’s read it together.<br />
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4) (vv1-6) How does creation give glory to God in your eyes?<br />
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5) (vv 7-9) How does God’s word compare to God’s creation? Are they connected?<br />
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6) (vv10-14) It feels like David is personalizing creation and word here. Do you identify with his response? Is any of it challenging to you?<br />
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David, growing up in the hills, always seems comforted by creation. But he also was ahead of his time in understanding the breadth and awesome span of God’s work. Read Psalm 8 together.<br />
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7) How do you respond to David’s song? “What is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?”<br />
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Scientists who are Christians feel that part of their work is to show atheist teachings as philosophy rather than science. In particular, the most subtle shift: moving from the scientific process as a way of approaching truth to the belief that science is all the real knowledge there is. (Sometimes called scientism.) At the least, they ask the Church to accept them in the spirit of Acts 15.<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Acts 15:5-11 Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, “The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to keep the law of Moses.”</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The apostles and elders met to consider this question. After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them: “Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe. God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. He did not discriminate between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear? No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.”</blockquote>
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8) Does this passage apply to the evolution debate? Can you be a Christian and believe in evolution?<br />
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<b>Resources</b><br />
<ul>
<li>Thomas Aquinas</li>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14663b.htm" target="_blank">biography</a></li>
<li><a href="http://dhspriory.org/thomas/" target="_blank">Translations</a> of his works, including his <a href="http://dhspriory.org/thomas/SSJohn.htm" target="_blank">commentary on the Gospel of John</a></li>
</ul>
<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo_Galilei#Controversy_over_heliocentrism" target="_blank">Galileo and Heliocentrism</a> (wikipedia)</li>
<li><a href="http://biologos.org/" target="_blank">BioLogos</a> - a science and Christianity site in the spirit of Francis Collins</li>
</ul>
<br />
<b>Personal Note</b><br />
This was a bit of a tough study for me. I outed myself as a Christian who believes in evolution. While I don't pretend to be anything else, I haven't made an issue of it, either, and my bible study group are creationists for the most part. They were - of course - loving and just as supportive afterward as they have been before. I shared how I have been told by many well-meaning Christian brothers (not sisters, interestingly) that you can not be both. While I have not always been accepting of creationists, either, I've repented of that and would now hate to ever give someone the feeling that they should not believe in faith where they have been lead. I do want us all to be able to be in church and worship the Lord together.John Goldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18212162438307044259noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7994557199947756534.post-1218949991340101222013-09-14T12:03:00.000-04:002013-09-14T12:03:35.546-04:00A Hard Teaching<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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0) What is the hardest teaching of Jesus for you? Does anything come to mind?<br /><br /><br />Previously in the Gospel of John: (5:1-15) Jesus heals on the Sabbath, getting himself and the former lame man in trouble with Jewish authorities. (5:16-47) Jesus continues to heal on the sabbath, continues to claim God as his father, and exacerbates conflict with the authorities when he criticizes them deeply and publicly. (6:1-15) Jesus feeds 5000+ with 2 loaves and 5 fishes. (6:16-21) Jesus walks on water to join the disciples in a boat.<br /><br />1) Can you imagine hearing through the grapevine that these things are going on? What would you think? Would you seek this person out?<br /><br /><br />Read John 6:22-27 <br />2) When do we seek Jesus for the food that spoils? What does that look like these days?<br /><br /><br />3) Work is always a dangerous word because of baggage and connotations. How is Jesus using it here? What is work for eternal food?<br /><br /><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Isaiah 55:1-4 “Listen! Whoever is thirsty, come to the water! Whoever has no money can come, buy, and eat! Come, buy wine and milk. You don’t have to pay; it’s free! Why do you spend money on what cannot nourish you and your wages on what does not satisfy you? Listen carefully to me: Eat what is good, and enjoy the best foods. Open your ears, and come to me! Listen so that you may live! I will make an everlasting promise to you - the blessings I promised to David. I made him a witness to people, a leader and a commander for people.</blockquote>
4) How does this connect to what Jesus is saying?<br /><br /><br />Read John 6:28-32<br />5) “What does God want us to do?” Boy is that a good question the people asked Jesus! His response depends on translation.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
NIV: ‘ 29 Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.” ’<br />GW: ‘29 Jesus replied to them, “God wants to do something for you so that you believe in the one whom he has sent.” ’</blockquote>
Seems like a significant difference. How do you interpret was Jesus is saying?<br /><br /><br />6) Are the people being naïve or actively trying to manipulate Jesus to get what they want? (Or both?) Are there any ways we try to manipulate God?<br /><br /><br />Read John 6:34-40<br />7) Obviously Christians have been hungry and thirsty to the point of death, and Jesus was clear he was the bread. So what do you think he means with the never hungry nor thirsty?<br /><br /><br /><br />8) This sounds like predestination in the first half of v. 37. But it sounds like free will in the second half of v. 37. What is Jesus saying?<br /><br /><br />9) Not to get too deep in the end times stuff, but what does Jesus mean by “bring to life on the last day”?<br /><br /><br />Read John 6:41-51<br />Link: Isaiah 54:13 All your children will be taught by the Lord, and your children will have unlimited peace.<br />10) Isn’t this a pretty reasonable criticism? Why might Jesus have reacted so strongly? <br /><br /><br />11) What does Jesus having seen the Father have to do with eternal life here? <br /><br /><br />Bread! Bread is seriously important to the Jews. From it’s first mention in scripture on. (Gen 3:19 “By the sweat of your brow, you will produce bread to eat until you return to the ground, because you were taken from it. You are dust, and you will return to dust.”) The word bread can mean food in general, the very means of sustenance. To eat bread requires special hand washing and a special blessing. And by bringing up manna Jesus already has them thinking about Deuteronomy 8:3: “So he made you suffer from hunger and then fed you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had seen before. He did this to teach you that a person cannot live on bread alone but on every word that the Lord speaks.”<br /><br />12) How can we understand how much Jesus saying this would freak them out?<br /><br /><br />Read John 6:52-60<br />Now his blood, too! Another freak out. The main requirement of meat to be kosher is complete bloodlessness, because of this command:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Genesis 4:1, 3-4 God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them… 3 “Everything that lives and moves will be your food. I gave you green plants as food; I now give you everything else. But you are not to eat meat with blood in it. (Blood is life.)”</blockquote>
And furthermore, the Greek language used here has switched from the usual word for eat to a word more like devour.<br /><br />13) What can we, as disciples, do when what Jesus is saying is hard to accept?<br /><br /><br />14) How do you make sense of this hard teaching?<br /><br /><br />Read John 6:61-70.<br />15) Verse 63 reminds me of C.S.Lewis’ line: you do not have a soul. You are a soul; you have a body. What does it mean that life is spiritual? How do you keep your focus on that?<br /><br /><br />16) What do you take away from this whole exchange? Why did Jesus give this message at this point in time? What does it say to us?<br />John Goldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18212162438307044259noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7994557199947756534.post-52602728731332835842013-06-10T10:17:00.002-04:002013-06-10T10:17:37.662-04:00Go and MakeThink of Peter, James, John, Matthew, etc. What came first: being disciples or believing Jesus was their Savior? <br />
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Matthew 28:10,<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
10 Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t be afraid! Go, tell my followers to go to Galilee. There they will see me.” … 16 The eleven disciples went to the mountain in Galilee where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they bowed down in worship, though some had doubts. 18 When Jesus came near, he spoke to them. He said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 So wherever you go, make disciples of all nations: Baptize them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. 20 Teach them to do everything I have commanded you. And remember that I am always with you until the end of time.” [God’s Word]</blockquote>
<br />In the Message: 16-17<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Meanwhile, the eleven disciples were on their way to Galilee, headed for the mountain Jesus had set for their reunion. The moment they saw him they worshiped him. Some, though, held back, not sure about worship, about risking themselves totally. 18-20 Jesus, undeterred, went right ahead and gave his charge: “God authorized and commanded me to commission you: Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life, marking them by baptism in the threefold name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you. I’ll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age.”</blockquote>
<br />In the NIV:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”</blockquote>
<br />That’s the end of Matthew’s gospel! Jesus rose, told them this and … CUT. That’s a print!<br />
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What does this command mean to you?<br />
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How important is it? (To you personally or to the church as a whole?)<br />
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<br /><i>Breaking it down</i>:<br />
What does this mean? All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me<br />
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How does the authority idea become the reason for the command? Therefore<br />
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To a place or do it now or get off your butt or…? Go<br />
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What is a disciple and how do I make one? make disciples of all nations<br />
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What else?<br /><br />Versions of this scene are in all of the gospels.<br />Mark 16:15-16 Then Jesus said to them, “So wherever you go in the world, tell everyone the Good News. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.”<br /><br />Luke 24:47-48 “Scripture also says that by the authority of Jesus people would be told to turn to God and change the way they think and act so that their sins will be forgiven. This would be told to people from all nations, beginning in the city of Jerusalem. You are witnesses to these things.” <br /><br />John 20:21-23 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.” After he had said this, he breathed on the disciples and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whenever you forgive sins, they are forgiven. Whenever you don’t forgive them, they are not forgiven.”<br /><br />
What do you notice in common amongst all these versions?<br />
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What do the others add to the ideas in Matthew?<br /><br /><br /><br />Scripture Share: Look over the following verses for what connects with you, or with the gospel passages we read. <br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on
your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will
make your paths smooth.<br /><br />Proverbs 3:11-12 Do not reject the
discipline of the Lord, my son, and do not resent his warning, because
the Lord warns the one he loves, even as a father warns a son with whom
he is pleased.<br /><br />Psalm 86:11 Teach me your way, Lord, that I may
rely on your faithfulness; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear
your name.<br /><br />Matthew 4:19-20 Jesus said to them, “Come, follow me! I
will teach you how to catch people instead of fish.” They immediately
left their nets and followed him.<br /><br />Luke 6:39-40 Jesus also gave
them this illustration: “Can one blind person lead another? Won’t both
fall into the same pit? A student is no better than his teacher. But
everyone who is well-trained will be like his teacher.<br /><br />Romans
5:6-8 Look at it this way: At the right time, while we were still
helpless, Christ died for ungodly people. Finding someone who would die
for a godly person is rare. Maybe someone would have the courage to die
for a good person. Christ died for us while we were still sinners. This
demonstrates God’s love for us.<br /><br />Colossians 1:21-22 Once you were
separated from God. The evil things you did showed your hostile
attitude. But now Christ has brought you back to God by dying in his
physical body. He did this so that you could come into God’s presence
without sin, fault, or blame.<br /><br />Colossians 2:6-7 You received
Christ Jesus the Lord, so continue to live as Christ’s people. Sink your
roots in him and build on him. Be strengthened by the faith that you
were taught, and overflow with thanksgiving.<br /><br />1 Thessalonians
2:6-8 We didn’t seek praise from people, from you or from anyone else,
although as apostles of Christ we had the right to do this. Instead, we
were gentle when we were with you, like a mother taking care of her
children. We felt so strongly about you that we were determined to share
with you not only the Good News of God but also our lives. That’s how
dear you were to us!<br /><br />2 Timothy 3: 16-17 All Scripture is
God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and
training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly
equipped for every good work.<br /><br />1 Timothy 2: 8 Therefore I want the men everywhere to pray, lifting up holy hands without anger or disputing.<br /><br />Hebrews
5:12-14 By now you should be teachers. Instead, you still need someone
to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word. You need milk, not
solid food. All those who live on milk lack the experience to talk about
what is right. They are still babies. However, solid food is for mature
people, whose minds are trained by practice to know the difference
between good and evil.<br /><br />1 Peter 2:21 God called you to endure
suffering because Christ suffered for you. He left you an example so
that you could follow in his footsteps.<br /><br />1 John 2:5-6 But whoever
obeys what Christ says is the kind of person in whom God’s love is
perfected. That’s how we know we are in Christ. Those who say that they
live in him must live the same way he lived.<br /><br />1 John 3:16-18 We
understand what love is when we realize that Christ gave his life for
us. That means we must give our lives for other believers. Now, suppose a
person has enough to live on and notices another believer in need. How
can God’s love be in that person if he doesn’t bother to help the other
believer? Dear children, we must show love through actions that are
sincere, not through empty words. </blockquote>
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<br />Caesar Kalinowski shares six simple ways to make disciples without adding anything to your schedule. His idea is that his church should expand on the rhythms that they do in the course of everyday life. There's a video: <a href="http://www.vergenetwork.org/2013/05/28/6-rhythms-to-discipleship-caesar-kalinowski/" target="_blank"> http://www.vergenetwork.org/2013/05/28/6-rhythms-to-discipleship-caesar-kalinowski/ </a><br />
<ul>
<li>Know God’s story. </li>
<li>Listening. listening to God, and listening in community is how you get to know peoples stories.</li>
<li>Celebrate. Life is living in a rhythm of celebration. The church should be the most celebratory people of the planet. We get to live forever!</li>
<li>Rhythm of Eating. Talk about moving from additional to intentional. We’re already eating like 21 times a week…What if I were to have three meals a week with people I’m trying to make disciples of?</li>
<li>Bless. Ask the spirit to reveal to you three people that you could bless intentionally each week through either words, action, or gift. Imagine a community of people in a neighborhood, like ten or twelve, all blessing three people a week. It’ll transform a place.</li>
<li>ReCreate. Resting in what Christ has done for us, not to earn, but then we work. It’s the idea of sabbath.</li>
</ul>
What do you think? Are these scriptural? Practical? <br />
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Would they be effective?<br />
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Read Hebrews 12:1-12. How would you summarize this? How does it connect with the other scripture we’ve read? Other than the coincidence of words, does it take discipline to be or make disciples?John Goldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18212162438307044259noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7994557199947756534.post-15014775735405840062013-06-10T10:06:00.002-04:002013-06-10T10:06:33.145-04:00What Kind of Fool Am I?“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline” Prov. 1:7 <br /><br />The primary problem with fools as described in the Bible is that of pride. As we look through scripture, look for these traits:<br />
<ul>
<li>They are unteachable. They refuse to accept correction, listen to advice, or take personal responsibility. Instead, they think they are always right and others are fools. </li>
<li>They have control issues. They think everyone should listen to them and do what they say; often if they meet with resistance, they can be very angry. They seem to fear allowing anyone else (including God) to be in charge. Many times, they feel somehow that they are above the system - the rules that apply to everyone else don't apply to them.</li>
<li>They do not have spiritual insight. Since the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom and that is why the way of wisdom seems ridiculous to a fool. He might even mock those who walk in it.</li>
</ul>
<br />There are FOUR Hebrew words for a fool. It’s notable that they have more words for this than English does, because usually this is reversed! There will be 4 or more English words for a single Hebrew word.<br />
<ul>
<li>A simple fool, or peti, is a person who makes mistakes but quickly rights them and is restored to fellowship with God and with others. Proverbs 1:4, 22, 32; Proverbs 7:7; Proverbs 8:5; Proverbs 9:4, 6, 16; Proverbs 14:15, 18; Proverbs 19:25; Proverbs 21:11; Proverbs 22:3; Proverbs 27:12; Psalm 116:6</li>
<li>The hardened fool, kesil and ewil, is someone who makes mistakes but never learns from them and will not listen to others. Proverbs 3:35; Proverbs 8:5; Proverbs 10:1, 18, 23; Proverbs 12:23; Proverbs 13:16, 19-20; Proverbs 14:7-8, 16, 24, 33; Proverbs 15:2, 7, 14; Proverbs 15:20; Proverbs 17:10, 12, 16, 21, 24-25; Proverbs 18:2, 6-7; Proverbs 19:1, 10, 13, 29; Proverbs 21:20; Proverbs 23:9; Proverbs 26:1-12; Proverbs 28:26; Proverbs 29:11, 20; Ecclesiastes 2:14-16; Ecclesiastes 4:5, 13; Eccl 5:1-4; Eccl 6:8; Eccl 7:4-6, 9; Eccl 9:17; Eccl 10:2, 12,15; Psalms 92:6</li>
<li>The mocking fool, or lewtz. The mocking fool mocks the things of God. This word means “scoffer” or “scorner” and today means a clown. When you encounter cynical people who disregard the things of God, you know these people are mocking fools. Proverbs 1:22; Proverbs 3:34; Proverbs 9:7-8, 12; Proverbs 13:1; Proverbs 14:6, 9; Proverbs 15:12; Proverbs 19:25, 28-29; Proverbs 20:1; Proverbs 21:11, 24; Proverbs 22:10; Proverbs 24:9</li>
<li>The God-denying fool, or nabal. This term relates to the morally wicked person who ignores the disgrace he brings on his family and who despises holiness. He conducts his life without any recognition of God and thus is corrupt and perverse. Psalm 14:1, 3; Ps 39:8; Ps 53:1; Ps 74:18, 22; Proverbs 17:7; Prov 17:21; Prov 30:22; Isaiah 32:5-6 (Nabal is also a person, whose story is told in 1 Samuel 25. He insults David, is about to be killed, is saved by his wife Abigail, and then dies of his foolishness. Abigail goes on to become David’s first wife.)</li>
</ul>
(This section is expanded from Os Hillman <a href="http://www.marketplaceleaders.org/becoming-a-fool/" target="_blank">http://www.marketplaceleaders.org/becoming-a-fool/</a> using Strong’s Concordance. HT Randy Deater)<br /><br /><br />1) Do you see a difference among types 2-4? Do you know any other types?<br /><br /><br />Let’s read Proverbs 26. <br />2) Can we put in plain words what the author describes as foolish behavior? What makes it foolish?<br /><br /><br /><br />Let’s read Proverbs 17:7-24.<br />3) What happens to fools? What happens to those around them?<br /><br /><br /><br />Let’s read Proverbs 18:9-24.<br />4) How can we deal with fools and/or foolish behavior? What is our responsibility to those with a fool in their lives?<br /><br /><br /><br />The Top (Biblical) Signs of a Fool: <br />1. A fool folds his hands and wastes away. (Ecclesiastes 4:5 & 10:12), <br />2. Laughter of a fool is pointless or meaningless (Ecclesiastes 7:6) <br />3. Silence is their only camouflage (Proverbs 17:28). <br />4. Insults those trying to advise them. (Proverbs 9:7)<br />5. Talk their way into a beating. (Proverbs 18:6)<br />6. Hates those who try to correct them. (Proverbs 9:8)<br />7. Works against those trying to help them. (Proverbs 19:3). <br />8. Prefers speaking their opinion to gaining understanding. (Proverbs 18:2). <br />9. Despise discipline. (Proverbs 1:7) <br />10. Cannot apply wisdom. (Proverbs 26:7,9)<br />11. Repeats stupidity. (Proverbs 26:11)<br />12. Stubborn to the point of fighting. (Proverbs 20:3)<br />13. Dangerous to themselves. (Proverbs 12)<br />14. …and even their words are dangerous to others.<br />15. They live in darkness and don’t know what makes them stumble. (Proverbs 4:19)<br />16. Can’t see where they are headed. (Ecclesiastes 2:14)<br />17. Wears their anger on their sleeve, even when it’s counterproductive (Proverbs 12:16) <br />18. “Better to meet a bear robbed of its cubs than a fool carried away with his stupidity.” (Proverbs 17:12)<br />19. Behavior makes no more sense than a drunk’s. (Proverbs 20:1)<br />20. Inflates their own sense of importance. (Galatians 6:3)! <br />21. Doesn’t prepare for even important endeavors. (Matthew 7:26-27)<br /><br />Proverbs 8 & 9 personify Wisdom and Folly as competing for your attention. Wisdom is calling out to the senseless, trying to teach and save. But Folly… “is loud, gullible, and ignorant. She sits at the doorway of her house. She is enthroned on the high ground of the city and calls to those who pass by, those minding their own business, ‘Whoever is gullible turn in here!’ ” (Prov 9:13-16)<br /><br /><i>More resources</i>: <br /><a href="http://bible.org/seriespage/fool-proverbs-261-11" target="_blank">http://bible.org/seriespage/fool-proverbs-261-11</a><br />
<a href="http://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionaries/bakers-evangelical-dictionary/fool-foolishness-folly.html" target="_blank">http://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionaries/bakers-evangelical-dictionary/fool-foolishness-folly.html </a><br />John Goldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18212162438307044259noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7994557199947756534.post-22510270253701203502013-04-14T09:16:00.001-04:002013-04-14T09:27:07.230-04:00Too Good to Be True?A study of the epistle to the <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Colossians+1&version=GW" target="_blank">Colossians</a>.<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Good News, but Too Good to Be True?</b><br />
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The epistle to the Colossians has strongly contested and defended authorship. Arguments in favor of Paul’s authorship include the author saying – in no uncertain terms – that he is Paul. If it is Paul, he wrote it in prison (like Ephesians, Colossians, Philippians, and Philemon); Tychicus is named as the letter carrier, just like Ephesians and Philemon. News of the happenings in Colossae (which still exists in western Turkey) were probably brought by Epaphras, mentioned in the letter to be visiting Paul. (Epaphras is mentioned later in Philemon described as being in prison with him.) <br />
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<i>Christology</i><br />
Col 1:13-18 Paul’s addressing problems in the church at Colossae. Why start with Christ? Why these ideas about Christ? Are there any big ideas he left out?<br />
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Not that Paul isn’t always capable of powerful, dense writing, but this is especially packed. Slowing way down:<br />
Col 1:19 What does it mean?<br />
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Col 1:20 What does this mean? Especially “everything on earth and in heaven”?<br />
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Col 1:21-22 Why emphasize “physical body”? <br />
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Col 1:23 “On the condition…”? How do you make sense of this?<br />
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Col 1:24-25 Are we all called to be happy (in the serving sense) in our suffering? What does “whatever remains of Christ’s sufferings” mean?<br />
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<i>Warnings</i><br />
Col 2:8-15 Circumcision again. What made this such a tough issue for the early church? Is there anything like that for us now?<br />
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Col 2:16-19 What do you imagine is going on in Colossae? Is there any parallel to it in our day?<br />
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Col 2:20-23 Can you put this in your own words? Are you free in this way? How do you know? or What holds you back?<br />
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<i>The Prescription </i><br />
Col 3:1-11 “Therefore, put to death whatever is worldly in you.” How do you do that?<br />
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“You’ve gotten rid of the person you used to be and the life you used to live, and you’ve become a new person. This new person is continually renewed in knowledge to be like its Creator.”<br />
Is salvation one and done or is it ongoing?<br />
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Col 3:12-17 What do you notice? How do you do this?<br />
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Col 4:2-6 Good advice… so what should we do?<br />
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<i>Uh oh. </i><br />
Col 3:18-4:1 What do these three examples have in common? How would you generalize Paul’s point here?<br />
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Some describe this as Paul approving of slavery. Fair or not? In particular, people are arguing that if you want to be literal with same-sex language in the bible you need to be literal with this.<br />
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<i>News and Notes</i><br />
Col 4:7-18 Sometimes people will skip over these specific notes about specific people. What do you notice about them? What’s important about Paul including them in the letter or the church including them in the Bible?<br />
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Col 1:3-11 Let’s pray this for each other:<br />
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3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, in our prayers for you. 4 We thank God because we have heard about your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all of God’s people. 5 You have these because of the hope which is kept safe for you in heaven. Some time ago you heard about this hope in the Good News which is the message of truth. 6 This Good News is present with you now. It is producing results and spreading all over the world as it did among you from the first day you heard it. At that time you came to know what God’s kindness truly means. 7 You learned about this Good News from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant. He is taking your place here as a trustworthy deacon for Christ 8 and has told us about the love that the Spirit has given you.<br />
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9 For this reason we have not stopped praying for you since the day we heard about you. We ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through every kind of spiritual wisdom and insight. 10 We ask this so that you will live the kind of lives that prove you belong to the Lord. Then you will want to please him in every way as you grow in producing every kind of good work by this knowledge about God. 11 We ask him to strengthen you by his glorious might with all the power you need to patiently endure everything with joy. 12 You will also thank the Father, who has made you able to share the light, which is what God’s people inherit.</blockquote>
<br />John Goldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18212162438307044259noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7994557199947756534.post-41674798787003989172013-03-11T22:36:00.000-04:002013-03-11T22:36:09.792-04:00The Cross Is…Adapted from In My Place, an article by Steve Brown. Romans 5:6-11, verse by verse.<br /><br />Even radical bible scholars count Romans as an epistle definitely written by Paul. His purposes in writing the letter include: prayers for his coming journey to Jerusalem, his plan to go to Rome and then on to Spain, to outline his teaching before his arrival in Rome, and to address the big conflict in the community. The conflict between the Gentile and Jewish Christians developed because Emperor Claudius exiled Jews from Rome in AD 49, which resulted in Gentile Christians taking leadership positions. The tension came when Jewish Christians returned in AD 54 after Claudius' death and found the Gentiles not keeping Jewish food laws nor observing Jewish holy days.<br />
<br />Martin Luther described Romans as "the chief book of the New Testament… it deserves to be known by heart, word for word, by every Christian." His lectures on Romans in 1515-16 were probably when he developed his criticism of the Roman church, which led to the 95 Theses of 1517. In 1738, John Wesley’s reading of Luther's Preface to the Epistle to the Romans began his conversion experience, which may be considered the beginning of Methodism. In 1919, Karl Barth's commentary on Romans was the beginning of neo-orthodoxy, which was a big influence on Bonhoffer and the German Christians who resisted the Third Reich. Modern day evangelists use the “Romans Road” to present the case for salvation: Romans 3:23, 6:23a, 6:23b, 5:8,10:9-10,10:13.<br />That’s a good epistle!<br /><br />Romans 4:23-25 is a good summary of the 4th chapter on faith.<br />1) What is Paul saying? How definitive is it? (Is he clear or ambiguous?)<br /><br /><br /><br />Today we’re concentrating on only 6 little verses, Romans 5:6-11. But first we should look at verses 1-5.<br />2) How would you sum up those first five verses to a fellow Christian? (To a non-Christian?)<br /><br /><br /><br /><b>The CROSS is a…necessity</b> v6: You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.<br />3) If we are forgiven, why do we always pray to be forgiven?<br /><br /><br /><br /><b>The CROSS is a…surprise</b> v7: Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. <br />4) How would you feel if someone offered their life up for yours? (Or, if you’ve experienced this in the military or elsewhere, how did you feel when they did offer their life for yours?) What if it was someone who was a better person than you? Someone with more to lose? Brown notes: we deserve wrath, we expect anger, and yet we find God offering love.<br /><br /><br /><br /><b>The CROSS is a…demonstration</b> v8: But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.<br />5) Can we witness if we are miserable and bound? God demonstrated his love to us that he might demonstrate his love through us.<br />
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<br /><b>The CROSS is a…promise</b> v9: Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him!<br />This reminds me of the best teacher I ever knew. She enforced complete discipline to make sure that her classroom was a safe place for her elementary students, but always, always any act of discipline was followed by an act of love.<br />6) What does this verse mean to you?<br /><br /><br /><b><br />The CROSS is a…reality</b> v10: For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!<br />7) Do you live in guilt? That’s living in a lie. The reality is you are forgiven. What difference does that make in how we live day to day?<br /><br /><br /><br />8) Are you afraid of death? That fear is a lie. The reality is you are going to live forever. What difference can that make in our decision making?<br /><br /><br /><br /><b>The CROSS is a…celebration</b> v11: Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.<br />9) Consider the parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32). What keeps the older brother from celebrating?<br /><br /><br /><br />10) What helps you be able to join the celebration?<br /><br /><br /><br /><b>The CROSS is the … last word</b>. The cross is crucial to Paul. One of the biggest disputes in the early church was over circumcision. The sign of the Abrahamic covenant, it was utterly necessary to be one of God’s chosen. But let’s read Galations 6:11-17.<br />11) Why does the cross settle this dispute for Paul?<br /><br /><br /><br />12) What disputes in the church today could be settled by this same argument?<br /><br /><br /><br /><b>The cross is for us</b>? In Matthew 16, after Peter is shut down for telling Jesus that He shouldn’t have to suffer and die, it says: (Mt 16:24-25) ‘Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Those who want to come with me must say no to the things they want, pick up their crosses, and follow me. Those who want to save their lives will lose them. But those who lose their lives for me will find them.’<br />13) Amazing that this was before the crucifixion. What do you feel like Jesus is telling you?<br /><br />John Goldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18212162438307044259noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7994557199947756534.post-59880227447645989892013-01-12T18:16:00.000-05:002013-01-12T18:16:12.942-05:00Keeping a Kosher Mouth <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Adapted from <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Walking-Dust-Rabbi-Jesus-Jewish/dp/0310284201" target="_blank">Walking in the Dust of Rabbi Jesus</a>, by Lois Tverburg, chapter <br /><br />1) Do you ever say things you wish you could take back? Like what?<br />
<br />When we think about what the bible says about speaking, maybe the first two things to come to mind are commandments: (Exodus 20)<br />7 “Never use the name of the Lord your God carelessly. The Lord will make sure that anyone who carelessly uses his name will be punished. <br />16 “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.”<br /><br />2) Do you think about these commandments ever? How do you interpret them?<br /><br /><br />Looking for practical wisdom, we should always consult proverbs.<br />
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<li>12:18 Careless words stab like a sword, but the words of wise people bring healing.</li>
<li>12:22 Lips that lie are disgusting to the Lord, but honest people are his delight.</li>
<li>14:3 Because of a stubborn fool’s words a whip is lifted against him, but wise people are protected by their speech.</li>
<li>16:23-24 A wise person’s heart controls his speech, and what he says helps others learn. Pleasant words are like honey from a honeycomb – sweet to the spirit and healthy for the body.</li>
<li>18:6-8 By talking, a fool gets into an argument, and his mouth invites a beating. A fool’s mouth is his ruin. His lips are a trap to his soul. The words of a gossip are swallowed greedily, and they go down into a person’s innermost being.</li>
<li>18:20-21 A person’s speaking ability provides for his stomach. His talking provides him a living. The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love to talk will have to eat their own words.</li>
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<br />3) What do you get from this advice? What seems most important in it to you?<br /><br /><br /><br />In our times we seem to expect that words are of little import, it’s what we do that matters. There almost seems to be an expectation that people will only speak in their own interest or will lie if need be, so don’t pay attention to words. <br />4) How does the modern casual attitude towards speech affect our lives?<br /><br /><br /><br />Jesus spoke a few times about the words we speak.<br /><br />Read <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%205:33-37%20&version=GW" target="_blank">Matthew 5:33-37 </a><br />5) What is Jesus saying here? Does it apply to our time as well as to his time?<br /><br /><br /><br />Read <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2015:1-20%20&version=GW" target="_blank">Matthew 15:1-20 </a><br />6) What is Jesus’ point? Why might he be so upset? Did the Pharisees ask a bad question?<br /><br />The single longest teaching on speaking comes in James. Not surprisingly, given the overlap with proverbs, some consider the book to have the most practical advice in the New Testament on Christian duties. Read <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=James%203&version=GW" target="_blank">chapter 3</a>.<br />7) What is the advice you find in here about the words we use?<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />One of the reasons that this chapter of Walking in the Dust of Rabbi Jesus is so interesting is that the author shares rabbinical teaching that comes from the Old Testament scriptures on speech. They’ve thought about exactly how we use speech in sinful ways. It’s like they’re trying to work out this part of Psalm 34:<br />
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Ps 34:12-13 Which of you wants a full life? Who would like to live long enough to enjoy good things? Keep your tongue from saying evil things and your lips from speaking deceitful things.</blockquote>
• Motzei Shem Ra – to put out a bad name – slander. Miriam and Aaron’s criticism of Moses is seen as this (in Numbers 12). This was Jesus phrase in the Beatitudes.<br />• Lashon Hara – an evil tongue – telling negative truths. This is seen as violating humility (which Paul recommends in Phillipians 2:3). Warning sign, “he’s great, but…” Illustration: slicing a pillow.<br />• Avak Lashan Hara – the dust of an evil tongue – non-verbal commentary, or inviting lashan hara by a set up question or invitation. Or sharing something because it shows another in a bad light.<br />• Halbanat Panim – whitening the face – humiliating another. “The pain of humiliation is more bitter than death.” Especially dangerous when correcting someone.<br />• Geneivat Da’at – stealing knowledge – to mislead without speaking untruth. To imply something false, often to give a too good impression of yourself or something else. Fake discounts, omitted information, ingenuous offers. Danger sign: someone feels duped.<br /><br /><br />Speech is a favorite topic of discussion by many wits and wise folk. <br />• Once a word has been allowed to escape, it cannot be recalled. ~Horace<br />• “How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is To have a thankless child!” –Shakespeare, King Lear (Lear’s complaining about his daughter.)<br />• “Remember not only to say the right thing in the right place, but far more difficult still, to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.” – Ben Franklin<br />• “Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.” - Abraham Lincoln<br />• A lie does not consist in the indirect position of words, but in the desire and intention, by false speaking, to deceive and injure your neighbour. - Jonathan Swift <br />• “It takes your enemy and your friend working together to hurt you to the heart: the one to slander you, and the other to get the news to you.” – Mark Twain<br /><br />
8) Do any of these seem biblical to you, or a good way to put the scriptural advice?<br /><br /><br /> Much of the above is about speech to avoid. What about words we should try to say? David prayed<br />
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Psalm 19:14 “May the words from my mouth and the thoughts from my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my defender.” </blockquote>
9) What should we be trying to say?<br />John Goldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18212162438307044259noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7994557199947756534.post-16355072113677774582013-01-12T17:11:00.000-05:002013-01-12T18:05:56.595-05:0010 Big Ideas from the NativityBad bible blogger! Never put up December's study. It's an mild adaptation of an <a href="http://ghbiblestudy.blogspot.com/2011/12/10-big-ideas-in-nativity-story.html" target="_blank">former youth study</a>. It engendered a pretty healthy discussion with a bunch of old guys, though. Due to the formatting, it's easier to share as a PDF:<br />
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<br />John Goldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18212162438307044259noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7994557199947756534.post-83098178495514165402012-11-10T11:11:00.004-05:002012-11-10T11:11:49.630-05:00A Christian's Hope<br />
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“I find hope in the darkest of days, and focus in the brightest. I do not judge the universe.” <br />– Dalai Lama</div>
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<br />“Hope is the dream of a waking man.” <br />– Aristotle</div>
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<br />“To me, we're marketing hope.” <br />– Joel Osteen</div>
<br />Is a Christian’s hope different than regular hope? Buddhist hope? Is hope important?<br /><br />1) Do you often think about or experience hope?<br /><br /><br />2) When is it hardest for you to have hope?<br /><br /><br />
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(Colossians 1:3-6) We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, in our prayers for you. We thank God because we have heard about your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all of God’s people. You have these because of the hope which is kept safe for you in heaven. Some time ago you heard about this hope in the Good News which is the message of truth. This Good News is present with you now. It is producing results and spreading all over the world as it did among you from the first day you heard it. At that time you came to know what God’s kindness truly means. </blockquote>
3) How can our hope be stored up in heaven?<br /><br /><br /><br />
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(Titus 1:2-3; 3:7) My message is based on the confidence of eternal life. God, who never lies, promised this eternal life before the world began. God has revealed this in every era by spreading his word. I was entrusted with this word by the command of God our Savior.</blockquote>
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<br />(Romans 8:24-25) We know that all creation has been groaning with the pains of childbirth up to the present time. However, not only creation groans. We, who have the Spirit as the first of God’s gifts, also groan inwardly. We groan as we eagerly wait for our adoption, the freeing of our bodies from sin. We were saved with this hope in mind. If we hope for something we already see, it’s not really hope. Who hopes for what can be seen? But if we hope for what we don’t see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.</blockquote>
4) Is there any tension or contradiction in Paul’s letter to Titus and to the Romans? Can hope be for something certain and something unseen?<br /><br /><br /><br />
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(Titus 2:11-14) After all, God’s saving kindness has appeared for the benefit of all people. It trains us to avoid ungodly lives filled with worldly desires so that we can live self-controlled, moral, and godly lives in this present world. At the same time we can expect what we hope for—the appearance of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. He gave himself for us to set us free from every sin and to cleanse us so that we can be his special people who are enthusiastic about doing good things.</blockquote>
5) So what is hope supposed to help us do? How might that work?<br /><br /><br /><br />Some scripture on hope:<br />
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• Psalm 33:18 Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear Him, On those who hope for His lovingkindness, <br />• Psalm 31:24 Be strong, and let your heart take courage, All you who hope in the LORD. <br />• Romans 5:2 through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God. <br />• Romans 15:13 Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. <br />• 1 Thessalonians 4:13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve, as do the rest who have no hope. <br />• 1 Timothy 4:10 For it is for this we labor and strive, because we have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of believers. <br />• Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.</blockquote>
6) What does hope give us? Have you ever experienced one of these passages?<br /><br /><br /><br />
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1 Peter 1: The God’s Word translation often puts faith as confidence. (3, 13, 18-21)<br />3 Praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! God has given us a new birth because of his great mercy. We have been born into a new life that has a confidence which is alive because Jesus Christ has come back to life. …</blockquote>
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<br />13 Therefore, your minds must be clear and ready for action. Place your confidence completely in what God’s kindness will bring you when Jesus Christ appears again. …<br />
<br />18 Realize that you weren’t set free from the worthless life handed down to you from your ancestors by a payment of silver or gold which can be destroyed. 19 Rather, the payment that freed you was the precious blood of Christ, the lamb with no defects or imperfections. 20 He is the lamb who was known long ago before the world existed, but for your good he became publicly known in the last period of time. 21 Through him you believe in God who brought Christ back to life and gave him glory. So your faith and confidence are in God.</blockquote>
<br />7) What is Peter teaching us about hope?<br /><br /><br /><br />8) Look back at the quotes on the first page. How would you respond to those speakers?<br /><br /><br />9) One more quote:<br />
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“We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.” </div>
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– Martin Luther King, Jr. </div>
What was Rev. King getting at? Is he using hope in the scriptural sense?<br /><br /><br />
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(1 Corinthians 13:8-13) Love never comes to an end. There is the gift of speaking what God has revealed, but it will no longer be used. There is the gift of speaking in other languages, but it will stop by itself. There is the gift of knowledge, but it will no longer be used. Our knowledge is incomplete and our ability to speak what God has revealed is incomplete. But when what is complete comes, then what is incomplete will no longer be used. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, thought like a child, and reasoned like a child. When I became an adult, I no longer used childish ways. Now we see a blurred image in a mirror. Then we will see very clearly. Now my knowledge is incomplete. Then I will have complete knowledge as God has complete knowledge of me. So these three things remain: faith, hope, and love. But the best one of these is love.</blockquote>
<br />10) What is Paul saying that faith, hope and love have in common? We seem to think more about faith and love… what does hope add to our lives in Christ?<br /><br />
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<i>Post script</i>: The first question in this study brought up a not uncommon sentiment: "I hope I win the lottery." It reminded me of the story this fall of a man who won the lottery, then waited to collect. He lived his life as if he had not won it, though he had certain knowledge that he had. It relates pretty directly to how Peter and Paul teach us about hope, for we are certain of our hope, also. Here's the <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2012/10/17/ny-brothers-wait-years-to-claim-5m-lottery-prize/1638949/" target="_blank">news story from USA Today</a>.<br />
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<i>Post post script</i>: To some extent this study was inspired by this comic. it's a bit in your face, especially for our group that has some beloved members with terminal illnesses. But it's a good wake up for those not dealing with the temporary nature of this world, which includes me much of the time.<br />
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<i>References</i>:<br />
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<li><a href="http://www.biblestudyguide.org/articles/hope/hope-heaven.htm" target="_blank">http://www.biblestudyguide.org/articles/hope/hope-heaven.htm</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/hope.html" target="_blank">Hope quotes </a></li>
<li><a href="http://bible.org/article/hope">http://bible.org/article/hope</a></li>
</ul>
John Goldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18212162438307044259noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7994557199947756534.post-37411166557203725402012-10-12T22:31:00.000-04:002012-10-12T22:31:12.482-04:00Psalms and Politics<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image from the <a href="http://thesundaydrivehome.blogspot.com/2012/09/god-politics-and-umc.html" target="_blank">Sunday Drive Home</a> blog</td></tr>
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Adapted from Eugene Peterson studies on the psalms, particularly <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Where-Your-Treasure-Is-Community/dp/0802801153" target="_blank">Where Your Treasure Is</a>, using materials from Rev. <a href="http://www.htlcmi.org/resources" target="_blank">Deanna Wildermuth</a>.<br /><br />After we read each psalm, let’s share what we noticed and what we might have had questions about. If we didn’t cover them already, then we can look at the questions.<br /><br />Read Psalm 2<br />1) Do you feel like the nations still rebel against the Lord?<br />2) What is the comfort for believers here?<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Read Psalm 14<br />3) To us this sounds like atheism. Would it have meant the same thing then?<br />4) Do verses 2 and 3 include us? Does this psalm tell us to do anything?<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Read Psalm 46<br />Peterson writes about Psalm 46: “Healthy prayer does not withdraw. But neither does it confront. It is not so much a dealing with what is wrong with the world or myself as a way of dealing with God in the world and in myself. Evil (in the form of violence in the psalm) is dealt with indirectly: it is absorbed into the forms and ceremonies of prayer. Prayer frees us from the assault of brute experience by setting us in the energies of grace experience. In the process, violence itself is changed.”<br />5) How do you think violence is changed through prayer? What are the “energies of the grace experience”?<br />6) Psalm 46 starts with the opposite of positive thinking. How does the worst case scenario prepare us to say in the midst of the inevitable crisis, “We will not fear”? Does it change your attitude regarding violence and evil?<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Read Psalm 62.<br />7) If someone’s telling you to wait on the Lord, or to trust in God only, it implies you’re not trusting God only or not waiting on Him. What tempts Christians away from trusting ad waiting on the Lord?<br />8) How can we balance the need to take action (being the body of Christ) with the idea of waiting on the Lord?<br /><br /><br /><br />Read Psalm 77.<br />9) That sounds like self-pity at the beginning. Is it okay to complain in prayer? What good does it do?<br />10) How does the psalmist get out of their self-pity?<br />11) Dealing with politics, it can be easy to doubt. Has there been a time that caused you to doubt? How did you deal with it?<br /><br /><br /><br />Read Psalm 82.<br />12) “Among the gods” and “You are gods”?? What’s up with that?<br />13) (Might be too political) Verses 3 and 4 prompt the question: what role should Christians want our government to have for the oppressed and the poor? Is this telling us to do something for the poor and the oppressed?<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Read Psalm 110.<br />14) Might sound familiar. It was the most referred to psalm in the New Testament; quoted 7 times, alluded to 15. Examples of texts: Matthew 22:42-45; Mark 12:35-37; Luke 20:41-44; Matthew 26:64; Mark 14:62; Luke 22:69; Acts 2:34-35; 7:55-56; Romans 8:34; Ephesians 1:20; Colossians 3:1; Hebrews 1:3, 13; 8:1; 10:12; 1 Peter 3:22. Also in the Apostle’s Creed.<br />What makes this psalm so important?<br />15) Does this psalm refer to things that Jesus has already done, is going to do, both or neither?<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Read Psalm 114.<br />Psalms 113 to 118 are used at festivals. For example, this song is sung before the Passover seder.<br /><br />Peterson writes about Psalm 114: “Prayer that enters into relationship with earth and sky, sea and mountains plays. It skips and dances. We do not live in an iron clad universe of cause and effect. In the presence of the God of Jacob there is life that is beyond prediction. There is freedom to change, to become more than we were in the presence of the God who ‘turns the rock into a pool of water, the flint into a spring of water.’ ”<br />16) How does he get that we do not live in an ‘iron clad universe of cause and effect’ from this psalm? What might he mean? Do you agree?<br />17) Have you ever experienced prayer as playful?<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />John Goldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18212162438307044259noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7994557199947756534.post-3396737622300911872012-10-12T17:11:00.001-04:002012-10-12T17:11:34.393-04:00What We AreGive a short talk for <a href="http://www.lakeshorefellowship.com/" target="_blank">Lakeshore Fellowship</a>'s first family night. Parents meeting together while their kids are in middle school or K-5 ministry. The theme I was given was individuality, based on Ephesians 2:10. I had the following Prezi:<br />
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<a href="http://prezi.com/qwlm0iphy3vb/what-we-are/" title="What We Are">What We Are</a> on <a href="http://prezi.com/">Prezi</a></div>
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<br /><i>Ephesians 2</i><br />We can believe this because it’s scripture. But, what’s the hardest part to believe? To really make sense of? (Small group discussion.)<br /><i><br />Sir Ken 15:18-17:45</i><br />Ken’s big point is helping students find their element. I think of parenting the same way. How do we find out where our children’s greatest strengths are? Especially when we can see that it can make such a difference. From this I get both the idea that strengths are not always obvious and can even appear negative, and that this parenting thing is the hardest job.<br /><br /><i>Individuality</i><br />From despair.com, if you can believe it. But if you’re a Christian you actually believe this. Paul seems to know that it’s hard to believe because he writes… <br /><br /><i>Ephesians 5:1-2</i><br />God’s children, each and every one. And we’re supposed to imitate God as a parent. No pressure. <br /><br /><i>Temple Grandin</i><br />Often when we talk about individuality we just talk about the warm fuzzies. Temple’s story makes clear the strengths and challenges. She has abilities that are rare and challenges that she has faced only through support. It’s one of the best parenting stories I know. (Small group discussion: what are the strengths and challenges you have to deal with?)<br /><br /><i>With your whole Very</i><br />Jesus’ pick for the greatest commandment comes from the section of Scripture known as the Shema to the Jews. When we look at that passage from Deuteronomy, the connection to parenting is clear. Looking at the Hebrew language raises some alternate interpretations. Instead of the love God full out, pedal to the metal feel of most English translations, it sounds like loving God as come-as-you-are, for the long haul, and this prase that seems to sound as odd in Hebrew as it does English: love God with all your very. With your peculiarities, your extremes, your gifts and your problems. Very comforting to me.<br /><br /><i>Ephesians 6:18</i><br />How can we do this? Paul told us this, too. Through prayer and all together.<br /><br /><i>Community</i>: one of my favorite images for cooperation. Because it’s hard, and because we’re only complete together.<br /><br /><i>Pray</i>: Together for all of us.<br /><br />P.S. Remember the “God has made us” part of “God has made us what we are.”<br />John Goldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18212162438307044259noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7994557199947756534.post-61059007330056633692012-09-07T22:32:00.001-04:002012-09-07T22:32:34.137-04:00Work<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b>Work</b> effort activity job employment trade profession livelihood making occupation duty task undertaking<br />
<br />“Work saves us from three great evils: boredom, vice and need.” – Voltaire<br />
<br />0) What makes something you do into work?<br /><br /><br /><b>Genesis 2:15-18</b><br />
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15 Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to farm the land and to take care of it. 16 The Lord God commanded the man. He said, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden. 17 But you must never eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil because when you eat from it, you will certainly die.” 18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is right for him.”</blockquote>
1) The biggest misconception about work is that it’s a consequence of the fall. What does it mean that there was work even pre-Eve?<br /><br /><br /><b>Genesis 3: 17-19</b><br />
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Then he said to the man, “You listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree, although I commanded you, ‘You must never eat its fruit.’ The ground is cursed because of you. Through hard work you will eat food that comes from it every day of your life. The ground will grow thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat wild plants. By the sweat of your brow, you will produce food to eat until you return to the ground, because you were taken from it. You are dust, and you will return to dust.”</blockquote>
2) How did the Fall change work?<br /><br /><b>John 5:16-21, 36</b><br />
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16 The Jews began to persecute Jesus because he kept healing people on the day of worship. 17 Jesus replied to them, “My Father is working right now, and so am I.” 18 His reply made the Jews more intent on killing him. Not only did he break the laws about the day of worship, but also he made himself equal to God when he said repeatedly that God was his Father. 19 Jesus said to the Jews, “I can guarantee this truth: The Son cannot do anything on his own. He can do only what he sees the Father doing. Indeed, the Son does exactly what the Father does. 20 The Father loves the Son and shows him everything he is doing. The Father will show him even greater things to do than these things so that you will be amazed. 21 In the same way that the Father brings back the dead and gives them life, the Son gives life to anyone he chooses. … 36 But I have something that testifies more favorably on my behalf than John’s testimony. The tasks that the Father gave me to carry out, these tasks which I perform, testify on my behalf. They prove that the Father has sent me.”</blockquote>
3) Jesus and the Father have work? How is that possible? What does it mean about work?<br /><br /><br /><b>Ecclesiastes 2:4-11</b><br />
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I accomplished some great things: I built houses for myself. I planted vineyards for myself. I made gardens and parks for myself. I planted every kind of fruit tree in them. made pools to water the forest of growing trees. I bought male and female slaves. In addition, slaves were born in my household. I owned more herds and flocks than anyone in Jerusalem before me. I also gathered silver and gold for myself. I gathered the treasures of kings and provinces. I provided myself with male and female singers and the pleasures men have with one concubine after another. So I grew richer than anyone in Jerusalem before me. Yet, my wisdom remained with me. 10 If something appealed to me, I did it. I allowed myself to have any pleasure I wanted, since I found pleasure in my work. This was my reward for all my hard work.</blockquote>
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<br />But when I turned to look at all that I had accomplished and all the hard work I had put into it, I saw that it was all pointless. It was like trying to catch the wind. I gained nothing from any of my accomplishments under the sun.</blockquote>
4) Whoa. What does Solomon discover about work?<br /><br /><br /><b>Ephesians 2:10</b><br />
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God has made us what we are. He has created us in Christ Jesus to live lives filled with good works that he has prepared for us to do.</blockquote>
5) Is what we consider our work the work to which God has called us? <br /><br /><br /><b>1 Corinthians 3:3-9</b><br />
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When you are jealous and quarrel among yourselves, aren’t you influenced by your corrupt nature and living by human standards? 4 When some of you say, “I follow Paul” and others say, “I follow Apollos,” aren’t you acting like sinful humans? 5 Who is Apollos? Who is Paul? They are servants who helped you come to faith. Each did what the Lord gave him to do. 6 I planted, and Apollos watered, but God made it grow. 7 So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is important because only God makes it grow. 8 The one who plants and the one who waters have the same goal, and each will receive a reward for his own work. 9 We are God’s coworkers. You are God’s field.</blockquote>
6) What is the planting and watering metaphor saying? How does God interact with our work?<br /><br /><br /><b>Isaiah 28:23-26</b><br />
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Open your ears, and listen to me! Pay attention, and hear me! Does a farmer go on plowing every day so he can plant? Does he continue to break up the soil and make furrows in the ground?<br />When he has smoothed its surface, doesn’t he scatter black cumin seed and plant cumin? Doesn’t he plant wild wheat in rows? Doesn’t he put barley in its own area and winter wheat at its borders?<br />God will guide him in judgment, and his God will teach him.</blockquote>
7) What is something that you have learned about work from God’s teaching?<br /><br /><br /><b>Proverbs</b><br />
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<li>21:5 The plans of a hard-working person lead to prosperity, but everyone who is always in a hurry ends up in poverty. </li>
<li>21:25 The desire of a lazy person will kill him because his hands refuse to work. </li>
<li>22:29 Do you see a person who is efficient in his work? He will serve kings. He will not serve unknown people. </li>
<li>24:27 Prepare your work outside, and get things ready for yourself in the field. Afterwards, build your house. </li>
<li>28:19 Whoever works his land will have plenty to eat. Whoever chases unrealistic dreams will have plenty of nothing.</li>
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8) What proverb would you write about work or what saying do you like about work?<br /><br /><b><br />2 Thessalonians 3:6-10</b><br />
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Brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ we order you not to associate with any believer who doesn’t live a disciplined life and doesn’t follow the tradition you received from us. You know what you must do to imitate us. We lived a disciplined life among you. We didn’t eat anyone’s food without paying for it. Instead, we worked hard and struggled night and day in order not to be a burden to any of you. It’s not as though we didn’t have a right to receive support. Rather, we wanted to set an example for you to follow. While we were with you, we gave you the order: “Whoever doesn’t want to work shouldn’t be allowed to eat.”</blockquote>
9) Why would they give that order? How does it fit with the previous scriptures on work?<br /><br />
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<b>James 2:14-26</b><br />
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14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? 15 Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.<br />18 But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. 19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.<br /><br />
20 You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? 21 Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. 23 And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend. 24 You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.</blockquote>
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25 In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? 26 As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.</blockquote>
10) Deeds here is 'works' in the King James. Is this work in any of the senses we've talked about it?<br />
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<b>References</b>:<br />
<a href="http://bible.org/article/biblical-worldview-work" target="_blank">Biblical Worldview of Work</a> by Kenneth Boa<br />
<a href="http://www.freebiblestudyguides.org/bible-answers/job-satisfaction-value-of-work.htm" target="_blank">Job Satisfaction and the Value of Work</a><br />
<a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/21553286/Work-%E2%80%93-a-Bible-study" target="_blank">Work</a> by Steve Bishop <br />
<a href="http://www.crosswalk.com/faith/spiritual-life/labor-day-the-ethics-of-work-559342.html" target="_blank">Ethics of Work</a> by James Eckman<br />
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<b>Image credit</b>: Sean MacEntee @ FlickrJohn Goldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18212162438307044259noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7994557199947756534.post-5986837334554343022012-09-07T18:58:00.002-04:002012-09-07T19:01:03.931-04:00Habakkuk<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Forgot to post this last month. Sorry!<br />
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This year I'm back to monthly studies for the men's group with no youth study.<br />
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<b>20 Questions on Habakkuk</b><br />
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Habakkuk is a man of mystery, mentioned only in his own short book (nestled between Nahum and Zephaniah) and apocryphal writings. (A truly weird story that involves dragons and Habakkuk being transported to feed Daniel in the lion’s den.) He lived around the time of the Babylonian (aka Chaldean) rise to power (ca 600 BC), probably contemporary to Jeremiah and Zephaniah. His book has long been treasured for its style of writing as well as its message.<br />
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Read 1:1-11<br />
1) How would you put Habakkuk’s question in your own words?<br />
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2) Have you ever asked anything similar? <br />
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3) How does God answer?<br />
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4) Is there anything today that feels like an injustice that God is allowing? How might that injustice be serving God’s purposes?<br />
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5) After all God’s glowing description of the Babylonians, what do you think is meant by “So they will be guilty, because their own strength is their god.” ?<br />
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Read 1:12-17<br />
6) How does Habakkuk respond to God’s answer? What new question does God’s answer prompt?<br />
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7) What makes you feel like Habakkuk feels in this passage? How do you deal with it?<br />
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Read 2:1-3<br />
8) Habakkuk seems patient. What helps you be patient when waiting on God? Do you wait on God?<br />
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9) What is the Lord telling Habakkuk in the beginning of his response? Does it apply to us in the post-Resurrection era in any way?<br />
Read 2:4- 20<br />
10) How would you sum up the Lord’s response here?<br />
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11) Is it an answer to Habakkuk’s question?<br />
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12) How does it connect with the Lord’s first answer?<br />
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13) What’s the relevance of this warning for today? Do you see any connections with the modern world?<br />
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Read Habakkuk 3<br />
14) Question – answer; question – answer; psalm? How is this psalm of Habakkuk a response to the question and answer session?<br />
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One question I had about the psalm was the beginning. <br />
In Exodus 33:2, Moses’ final blessing begins: “The Lord came from Sinai. For his people he rose from Seir like the sun. He appeared like sunshine from Mount Paran.”<br />
In Isaiah 63:1, Isaiah writes “Who is this coming from Bozrah in Edom with his clothes stained bright red? Who is this dressed in splendor, going forward with great strength? “It is I, the Lord. I am coming to announce my victory. I am powerful enough to save you.”<br />
Edom is another word for Teman, and was known as the inheritance of Esau, south of Judah; the Edomites were traditional enemies of Israel. <br />
15) What meaning might it have had for the Jews to imagine God coming from the south?<br />
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16) What other questions do you have about the psalm?<br />
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17) Is there any description of God here that really resonates with you?<br />
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18) One neat sermon on Habakkuk 3 talks about how this is a good chapter for anyone who feels like they’ve got a handle on what God would or wouldn’t do. How does this chapter address that?<br />
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19) Have you ever been able to rejoice in the Lord in terrible times? Can you share it?<br />
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20) What’s one thing you can take away from this reading of the book of Habakkuk?<br />
<br />John Goldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18212162438307044259noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7994557199947756534.post-32523249686871358862012-07-15T08:51:00.000-04:002012-07-15T08:51:32.115-04:00Re RePeterNote: occurred to me I never posted the modification of the <a href="http://ghbiblestudy.blogspot.com/2012/05/repeter.html">RePeter</a> youth bible study that we did in the men's group. It added some good discussion, and lead to the <a href="http://ghbiblestudy.blogspot.com/2012/07/go-forth.html">Go Forth</a> evangelism study we did this month. <br />
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<iframe height="480" src="https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B8frwh-y1pyQbFNDb3hWN2cxT3M/preview" width="640"></iframe></center>John Goldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18212162438307044259noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7994557199947756534.post-65619948720393703552012-07-15T08:41:00.000-04:002012-07-15T08:41:01.915-04:00Go Forth<i>Note</i>: Our men's bible study this month was a bit different than usual. Instead of our usual digging into scripture, we went through the materials from Evangelism Explosion, which was a James Kennedy program for equipping his churchmembers to talk to people about salvation. I asked the men to bring the scripture and personal connections to the topic. As it is, this was way too long for an hour plus. But, going through the basics of salvation was clearly worth it, even for this bunch of experienced guys. I've added a couple of the scripture connections they added in parentheses.<br />
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Recent bible studies we’ve done have had a big message or discussion point about sharing Christ with others. Pastor Lee shared his Evangelism Explosion (EE) text and some of his experiences. From the text it sounds like it started as a visitation program to people who had tried Pastor Kennedy’s church.<br /><br /><b>Presentation of the Gospel</b><br /><i>The two questions</i><br />
1) Do you know for certain if you die that you will go to heaven?<br />
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2) If God were to ask “why should I let you into heaven?” what do you think you would say?<br />
<br /><br /><i>The big points</i>. <br />
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<b>Romans 6:23</b> For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.</blockquote>
3) As we go through these, let’s consider how we make sense of it, how we might explain it to someone else, and what Bible verses or stories it brings to mind. You don’t have to know chapter and verse – we’re just looking for connections.<br /><br />
A. Grace.<br />
<ul>
<li>Heaven is free.</li>
<li>We can’t earn it.</li>
<li>This completely free idea is the only way it could work.</li>
</ul>
<br />B. Sin. Ps 53:3 “Everyone has turned away, all have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.” (Matthew 5:48, 1 John 1:8-9)<br />
<ul>
<li>We are all sinners: thoughts, words, and deeds - done and left undone.</li>
<li>We cannot save ourselves.</li>
</ul>
<br />C. God.<br />
<ul>
<li>God is merciful.</li>
<li>God is just.</li>
</ul>
<br />D. Jesus.<br />
<ul>
<li>He is God and Man.</li>
<li>Salvation is through Him and what He did.</li>
</ul>
<br />E. Faith. (Rom 10:9)<br />
<ul>
<li>Not acknowledging Jesus existence, his crucifixion or even his resurrection.</li>
<li>Salvation is through Jesus alone. Knowledge, assent, and trust.</li>
</ul>
<br /><i>Two Passages on this</i>:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>Ephesians 2:1-9</b> You were once dead because of your failures and sins. 2 You followed the ways of this present world and its spiritual ruler. This ruler continues to work in people who refuse to obey God. 3 All of us once lived among these people, and followed the desires of our corrupt nature. We did what our corrupt desires and thoughts wanted us to do. So, because of our nature, we deserved God’s anger just like everyone else. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
4 But God is rich in mercy because of his great love for us. 5 We were dead because of our failures, but he made us alive together with Christ. (It is God’s kindness[a] that saved you.) 6 God has brought us back to life together with Christ Jesus and has given us a position in heaven with him. 7 He did this through Christ Jesus out of his generosity to us in order to show his extremely rich kindness in the world to come. 8 God saved you through faith as an act of kindness. You had nothing to do with it. Being saved is a gift from God. 9 It’s not the result of anything you’ve done, so no one can brag about it.</blockquote>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>Romans 3: 21-26</b> Now, the way to receive God’s approval has been made plain in a way other than Moses’ Teachings. Moses’ Teachings and the Prophets tell us this. 22 Everyone who believes has God’s approval through faith in Jesus Christ.<br />There is no difference between people. 23 Because all people have sinned, they have fallen short of God’s glory. 24 They receive God’s approval freely by an act of his grace through the price Christ Jesus paid to set us free from sin. 25 God showed that Christ is the throne of mercy where God’s approval is given through faith in Christ’s blood. In his patience God waited to deal with sins committed in the past. 26 He waited so that he could display his approval at the present time. This shows that he is a God of justice, a God who approves of people who believe in Jesus.</blockquote>
<br />4) What connections do you see between the gospel presentation points and these two passages?<br /><br /><br /><i>Then what</i>?<br />5) In EE and Billy Graham revivals this is where they ask the person to make a statement of faith or pray the sinner’s prayer. What would you do with someone at this point?<br /><br /><br /><i>Smoothing the Way</i><br />Some features of the EE method are to: create a transition to the gospel, earn a right to ask personal questions, find out where the person is, create a desire to hear the gospel, ask permission to share<br /><br /><i>Testimony</i><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
1 Peter 3:15 “Always be ready to defend your confidence in God when anyone asks you to explain it. However, make your defense with gentleness and respect.”</blockquote>
<ul>
<li>People argue doctrine; testimony is your personal experience.</li>
<li>Chance to share what’s good now about salvation: fellowship, peace, love, forgiveness, new perspective, freedom in a real, concrete way.</li>
<li>OK if you don’t remember becoming a Christian. Telling your own story with your own facts.</li>
</ul>
<br />
6) How does being saved make a difference in your life?<br /><br /><br /><i>Objections </i><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>1 Thessalonians 5:20-21</b> Don’t despise what God has revealed. 21 Instead, test everything. Hold on to what is good.</blockquote>
<ul>
<li>avoid argument, be positive, acknowledge truth.</li>
<li>OK to postpone if it’s extraneous. “That’s a different question. What I was trying to say…</li>
<li>OK to answer later. If it’s a relevant question, but you don’t have an answer, say so and that you’ll think about it and get an answer.</li>
<li>Common objections:</li>
</ul>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<ul>
<li>What about all the non-believers? </li>
<li>God wouldn’t send anyone to hell/hell isn’t real.</li>
<li>Why believe the Bible?</li>
<li>It can’t be free/works must play a part.</li>
<li>Atheist/materialist/agnostic/pagan.</li>
</ul>
</blockquote>
7) How do you answer these? What other objections do you hear?<br /><br /><br /><i>Follow up</i>. It’s about discipleship, not a single big moment. Works come in as a response to grace. A thank you.<br /><br />
In addition to the study, I brought this list culled from some recent blogposts, linked below, from a Christian writer. I meant these for discussion - please take his notes with a grain of salt.<br />
<br /><b>Cliches Christians Should Avoid</b>. From 3 different articles by Christian Platt. See <a href="http://urli.st/zq7">http://urli.st/zq7</a><br />I’m uncomfortable with some of these, but his full list (29 items long) includes some things I wish Christians wouldn’t say (like “God helps those who help themselves” or “God must have wanted another angel”) so they are at least worth considering and maybe answering. If nothing else, they show potential sticking points. For the following: would you avoid these in talking to people about Jesus, or are they important to include?<br /><br />“<i>Can I share a little bit about my faith with you?</i>” Too often, Christians presume we have something everyone else needs, without even knowing them first. Ask someone about their story, but maybe not the second you meet them. Christian evangelism often is the equivalent of a randy young teenager trying to get in good with his new girlfriend. When your personal agenda is more important than the humanity of the person you’re talking to, most people can sense the opportunism from a mile a way.<br /><br />“<i>Do you accept Jesus as your personal lord and savior?</i>” Again, this is not in the Bible. Anywhere. And for me, it goes against the whole Christlike notion of the suffering servant. People tried to elevate Jesus to the status of Lord, but he rejected it. So why do we keep trying? Plus, the whole idea of a lord is so antiquated, it has no real relevance to our lives today. Be more mindful of your words, and really mean what you say.<br /><br />“<i>Jesus died for your sins.</i>” I know, this is an all-time Christian favorite. But even if you buy into the concept of substitutionary atonement (the idea that God set Jesus up as a sacrifice to make good for all the bad stuff we’ve done), this is a abysmal way to introduce your faith to someone. I didn’t ask Jesus to die for me, and if I’m not a Christian, I really have no concept of how that could possibly be a good thing. he whole idea of being washed clean by an innocent man’s blood is enough to give any person nightmares, let alone lead them into a deeper conversation about what Christianity is about.<br /><br /><i>Are you saved?</i> I’ve addressed the theological understandings of hell and judgment in other pieces, but regardless of whether you believe in hell, this is a very unattractive thing to say. First, it implies a power/privilege imbalance (ie, “I’m saved, but I’m guessing you’re not based on some assumptions I’m making about you), and it also leaps over the hurdle of personal investment and relationship, straight into the deep waters of personal faith. If you take the time to learn someone’s story, you’ll like learn plenty about what they think and believe in the process. And who knows? You might actually learn something too, rather than just telling others what they should believe.<br /><br /><i>Christianity is the only way to God/Heaven</i>. You may believe this with your whole heart, and I’m sure you have the scriptures at the ready to support it. But consider the possibility that either those you’re speaking with think differently about this, or if they haven’t put much thought into it, that what you’re saying feels like an ultimatum or a threat. Yes, there are texts to support a theology of exclusive salvation, but there also are some to support a more universalist notion of salvation (John 1:9 – “The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.”). And think about how such a statement might sound to someone who has lost a loved one who was not a Christian, at least by your standards of what that means. And theologically speaking, it opens up a whole Pandora’s Box in answering for the fate of all those who lived before Christ, who never hear about him, and so on.<br /><br /><i>Antidotes to the Clichés to avoid</i>:<br />
<ol>
<li>Listen more; talk less. </li>
<li>Stop trying to fix everything. </li>
<li>See yourself in the “Other.”</li>
<li>Pray. </li>
<li>Quality over quantity. </li>
<li>Share generously of yourself. </li>
<li>Be open to the possibility that you’re wrong. </li>
<li>Apologize. </li>
<li>Own your love. </li>
<li>Make sure your life reflects your faith.</li>
</ol>
<br />John Goldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18212162438307044259noreply@blogger.com1