Sunday, September 27, 2009
New Study Begins Next Week
A four week study entitled, "One Month to Live" begins next week. This study is a companion study to the sermon series of the same name. Class discussion will be based on the Book of Philippians. The study is set up with daily readings and activities for each week. The participant guide is available on the church website under the Community Group’s page at www.pleasantvalley.org/groups. If you have trouble accessing the guide to print it, please let me know.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
The Truth of it All
First, let me thank each and everyone of you for your willingness to discuss these important but difficult issues that are being raised through this sermon series. Your response to this is just one more evidence of why we keep saying you are an incredibly wonderful group!!
There are some fundamental principles that are discussed at length in the book, UnChristian, that you need to know. Since many have not had a chance to read the book, yet, I thought I would explain a couple of key concepts.
First, The authors of this book are not suggesting that we change the message of truth: God's gospel of love as demonstrated through the life and death of Jesus Christ. The truth of that message is constant and unchangeable. What the authors are suggesting is that we need to take a look at how effective we are in communicating that message. This isn't denying the role of the Holy Spirit in awakening the heart of an unbeliever and leading them to realize who Christ is. However, they are asking us to seriously question whether the words we say and the actions we take are assisting the Holy Spirit or hindering Him. In other words, can people see Jesus in us, or can they not see Jesus because of us? That is a tough question. The research that the authors did indicate that the message that is being received is often not what we intended.
Second, the authors' also talk about something called "world view." This concept was mentioned just before our time ended today. We will go into that more next week. Basically, your "world view" will be reflected in how you do life. That means that your attitudes and behaviors reflect who or what is in charge of the world. If you believe that God created the world and has been actively engaged in the world since then your actions and attitude would reflect that. You would see historical events as a part of God's plan. You would believe that you are a part of God's plan and seek God's guidance in making decisions. You would also believe that God has already won the battle with Satan and know that even when the world around you seems chaotic, you would have peace.
If you believe that that there is no God or that God is not actively engaged in the world, you put yourself in the driver's seat and the world becomes all about you. Your life choices will reflect that.
Please let me know what you are thinking. We will continue this discussion next Sunday.
There are some fundamental principles that are discussed at length in the book, UnChristian, that you need to know. Since many have not had a chance to read the book, yet, I thought I would explain a couple of key concepts.
First, The authors of this book are not suggesting that we change the message of truth: God's gospel of love as demonstrated through the life and death of Jesus Christ. The truth of that message is constant and unchangeable. What the authors are suggesting is that we need to take a look at how effective we are in communicating that message. This isn't denying the role of the Holy Spirit in awakening the heart of an unbeliever and leading them to realize who Christ is. However, they are asking us to seriously question whether the words we say and the actions we take are assisting the Holy Spirit or hindering Him. In other words, can people see Jesus in us, or can they not see Jesus because of us? That is a tough question. The research that the authors did indicate that the message that is being received is often not what we intended.
Second, the authors' also talk about something called "world view." This concept was mentioned just before our time ended today. We will go into that more next week. Basically, your "world view" will be reflected in how you do life. That means that your attitudes and behaviors reflect who or what is in charge of the world. If you believe that God created the world and has been actively engaged in the world since then your actions and attitude would reflect that. You would see historical events as a part of God's plan. You would believe that you are a part of God's plan and seek God's guidance in making decisions. You would also believe that God has already won the battle with Satan and know that even when the world around you seems chaotic, you would have peace.
If you believe that that there is no God or that God is not actively engaged in the world, you put yourself in the driver's seat and the world becomes all about you. Your life choices will reflect that.
Please let me know what you are thinking. We will continue this discussion next Sunday.
Friday, August 28, 2009
Sunday's Lesson: Led by the Holy Spirit 8/30/09
No, that wasn't the topic of discussion today; but it is what happened. During today's worship service, I was convicted to put away the lesson I had prepared and hold an open discussion about the message. There was so much to think about and to process that I felt the Spirit leading me to completely change the focus. So, for about 40 minutes we did just that. I wondered if I would need to "prime the pump" so to speak to get the discussion going; but that wasn't necessary at all. I appreciated the sincerity and honesty of the thoughts, feelings, and experiences that were shared.
For those of you who may have missed worship this morning, Merle began a message series that shows us the perceptions young adults (both inside and outside of the church) have of Christians. The perceptions and statistics are startling to say the least. The statistics used in this series come from the book UnChristian by David Kinnaman, who is associated with the Barna Research Group. The book is available in the PV bookstore and I would highly recommend that you read it.
As a result of this morning's service, I will put off the study of Revelation that we had scheduled to begin in September. Our "study" for the next four weeks will actually be a discussion of the information shared in the morning services. I realize this is a an "out of the box" experience, but I believe it is at the direction of the Holy Spirit.
Please feel free to share your thoughts, follow-up questions or concerns in the comment box. The more processing, we do the more we will be able to identify the truths we are learning and understand how to apply them to our lives. Let me know what you are thinking.
Read the book of 1 Peter to expand your thinking on this subject and to prepare for the rest of the sermon series.
For those of you who may have missed worship this morning, Merle began a message series that shows us the perceptions young adults (both inside and outside of the church) have of Christians. The perceptions and statistics are startling to say the least. The statistics used in this series come from the book UnChristian by David Kinnaman, who is associated with the Barna Research Group. The book is available in the PV bookstore and I would highly recommend that you read it.
As a result of this morning's service, I will put off the study of Revelation that we had scheduled to begin in September. Our "study" for the next four weeks will actually be a discussion of the information shared in the morning services. I realize this is a an "out of the box" experience, but I believe it is at the direction of the Holy Spirit.
Please feel free to share your thoughts, follow-up questions or concerns in the comment box. The more processing, we do the more we will be able to identify the truths we are learning and understand how to apply them to our lives. Let me know what you are thinking.
Read the book of 1 Peter to expand your thinking on this subject and to prepare for the rest of the sermon series.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
This Week's Prayer List
If you will scroll part-way down the screen you will see a list of prayer requests in the green column on the right. That list will be updated each week and will contain the prayer requests that were shared in class. Please be in prayer for Dale today as he goes in for his regularly scheduled follow-up tests. Also, please praise the Lord for Anita as she has passed the half-way point of her radiation treatments and has experienced little in the way of side effects!
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Something New!
What a great discussion we had in class this morning. I always come away feeling that I have learned far more from each of you than anything I have put together for the lesson. If you were in class today you may remember that I briefly mentioned that I have a blog. Well, now I have two blogs; but this one is just for members of our Community Group. I have been thinking for sometime that this might be a great way to extend our class conversations throughout the week. It will allow us to continue discussions that were begun in class or share insights that may come a few hours or even a few days later. We can also use it to post announcements, activities and share praise stories with each other. I think the possibilities are endless.
When you read this you will have an opportunity to make a comment at the bottom of this post. When you have completed your comment you need to click on Select Profile. You probably don't have one already set up, so what you need to do is to click on google account. When you enter that you will be directed to a page that will allow you to create an account. There is no cost to this account and you won't get e-mail messages on it. It just allows you to communicate with the blog.
So, welcome to the electronic world of blogging. Hopefully, this will be helpful, insightful and fun. Have a great week.
Barbara
When you read this you will have an opportunity to make a comment at the bottom of this post. When you have completed your comment you need to click on Select Profile. You probably don't have one already set up, so what you need to do is to click on google account. When you enter that you will be directed to a page that will allow you to create an account. There is no cost to this account and you won't get e-mail messages on it. It just allows you to communicate with the blog.
So, welcome to the electronic world of blogging. Hopefully, this will be helpful, insightful and fun. Have a great week.
Barbara
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