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.

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!

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