Midweek Bible Study: 2/28/2008

Wow! What a great evening in Philippians!!! I hope that all of you who came to the Midweek Bible Study tonight enjoyed this week's message and discussion as much as I did. For those of you who were unable to make it, we covered the next lesson in our "The Rebel's Guide to Joy" series with "The Rebel's Guide to Joy in Humility." What a powerful lesson on the pursuit of humility and the obstacle of pride! You all had such great comments and insights during the discussion time that you made my job very easy (thanks, by the way :)). At any rate, the question we left with was this: "What specifically in your life has become an obstacle to your pursuit of humility?" (more specific than "Pride," Bethany....j/k) Have you been hurt before and now find the vulnerability that humility can bring too painful or fearsome? Have you always held a weak view of humility and find that hard to break through that view to find true humility? I'd be really interested to hear your thoughts, even "in general" if you'd rather not share from your personal life. Let me know in the coments.

Link to video: The Rebel's Guide to Joy in Humility

Sunday School 2/24/08: Moses and Aaron before Pharoah

We did not have Bible Study on Thursday night due to a combination of busy schedules and bad weather, so we will continue this week, Lord willing.

This morning, we studied Exodus 5-6:13, where Moses and Aaron appear before Pharaoh to relay God's command to let the Israelites go free. Of course, Pharaoh refuses and responds by increasing the toil of the Israelites by withholding straw for their bricks, making them gather it themselves with no reduction in quota. In this, Pharaoh not only succeeded in declaring his non-submission to God, but also in turning the people against Moses and Aaron. Discouraged, Moses offers an honest prayer of frustration to God, who, in response, assures Moses of his plan to redeem his people and reveals himself to them as LORD, a level of intimacy not previously offered to mankind.

Exodus 5-6

Sunday School: 2/17/08

Today we studied the "Call of Moses" as it is often referred to. We saw how God appeared to Moses in the Burning Bush and how even though God spoke directly to Moses, he was still reluctant to obey wholeheartedly. However, even though many might be quick to criticize Moses for his reluctance, we see within him the very same tendency that many of us face on a daily basis: the conflict between doing what is comfortable and doing what is right. God was asking Moses to step out of his comfort zone...Go to a people who don't know you and speak my truth to them, even though you dislike public speaking. Oh, and by the way, Pharaoh's heart will be hardened, so he will require some convincing. But here's the great part: I will go with you and make sure that you're successful; in fact, you and the people will worship me on this very mountain.

Moses eventually obeyed, and yet we're often quick to point the finger at him, criticizing his lack of trust that God knew what he was doing...after all, God actually spoke to him, right? But here's the truth: we have God's written word right in front of us, yet we often hesitate in our obedience, as if God's written word somehow carries less authority than his spoken word.

Well, as I said this morning, I am thankful that God chose to work through average, ordinary people, just like you and me, so that we can relate to their humanity...after all, I'd be willing to bet that if we all were honest with ourselves we've all faced a situation where obedience to God was uncomfortable... How did you respond?

Exodus 3-4

Midweek Bible Study 2/14/2008 (V-day Edition)

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone!

We had our 4th installation of our Rebel's Guide to Joy series this evening with The Rebel's Guide to Joy in Death. We had a great group this evening and, although the topic was a pretty heavy one, we had a really fruitful discussion time and even enjoyed a little Guitar Hero III afterwards.

Since I've had some problems with the site displaying the embedded videos, I'll just link you to the actual Mars Hill site for the video, but NO PEEKING!!! Don't look ahead and ruin your appetite for next week!

It's an honor and privilege to share this journey called life with each of you and, God willing, I look forward to many more exciting times with you all! See you on Sunday! Bring a friend! Let's get this party started!!!!

Sunday School 2/10/2008: Exodus 1 & 2

As I said this morning, either you guys really like the Old Testament or else you are gluttons for punishment! After your feedback as to where to go after Genesis, the overwhelming consensus was Exodus, the next book of the Old Testament Books of Law. In all seriousness, though, I am very excited to teach Exodus with you all and I hope that we enjoy it as much as, if not more than, Genesis. Exodus is an amazing book that centers around faithfulness. It is in Exodus that God demonstrates his faithfulness to his people, the Israelites in delivering them from bondage in Egypt. This theme, among others, connects the books of Genesis and Exodus as a cohesive account of God's promise and sovereign ability to accomplish what he has promised.

This morning, we opened with a brief discussion of the connecting context between Genesis and Exodus and were introduced to Moses, God's appointed man to lead the Israelites from bondage...Moses just didn't know it yet. We saw how the divine hand of God was at work to connect events and circumstances for the furthering of his plan to save his people.

Here's the outline to this week's study in case you lost it or didn't get to join us today.I hope that you will join us next week as we see God's calling on Abraham's life...it promises to be a great time in fellowship and study of the Word.

Exodus 1 & 2

Midweek Bible Study: 2/7/2008

Sorry for the late post. This week, despite a last minute change of venue, we had our third study in our series, The Rebel's Guide to Joy. This week's topic? The Rebel's Guide to Joy in Suffering. The question is not if you will suffer, but how and when. While that certainly doesn't, at first glance, inspire a lot of hope, the real joy in suffering is found not in the suffering itself, but in how God works in you and through you. Despite his circumstances, Paul, who knew all too well of suffering, found joy in his own suffering because he knew that even though he was miserable, God was using his suffering to refine his own life and to impact the lives of those around him. His joy was not in the fact that he was suffering, but in the fact that his suffering was not without purpose: namely, the furthering of the Gospel.

Click here to view the video! (no peeking ahead!!)

No Sunday School 2/3/08--Budget Meeting

Hey Everyone!

We did not have Sunday School this morning, due to the annual Budget Meeting held in the FLC. I am a bit under the weather and have spend much of today in bed, so I missed the meeting this morning.

Weather permitting, we plan to continue our study of Philippians on Thursday with the Rebel's Guide to Joy in Suffering, Part 3 of our study.

Hope to see you then!!

~~J