Discussion 29 January 2012

DEUTERONOMY 18:15-20

¹⁵The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you shall heed such a prophet. ¹⁶This is what you requested of the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said: “If I hear the voice of the LORD my God any more, or ever again see this great fire, I will die.” ¹⁷Then the LORD replied to me: “They are right in what they have said. ¹⁸I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their own people; I will put my words in the mouth of the prophet, who shall speak to them everything that I command. ¹⁹Anyone who does not heed the words that the prophet shall speak in my name, I myself will hold accountable. ²⁰But any prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, or who presumes to speak in my name a word that I have not commanded the prophet to speak — that prophet shall die.”


For Consideration:


-Where have all the prophets gone?
-What are some of the characteristics of a prophet?
-How do we judge those appearing to be prophets?


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Gratitude

By Richard pelfrey
 columbiagps@gmail.com

Why does gratitude only become so important for a couple months at the end of the year?  We go around the table at thanksgiving and recite a short list of things we have to be grateful for, open up our presents at Christmas and then go with our lives.  The rest of the year maybe we’ll see some image on TV or (God forbid) in real life of someone who is worse off than we are and feel grateful that our situation is more comfortable than theirs.  But as many a parent has told a whining child, we don’t realize how lucky we are.

Last year, this publication reminded me of just how lucky I am and how ungrateful I can be.  A friend of mine was down in Cool Springs shopping.  It was cold and raining pretty heavy – a day no one likes to be out in.  And there was this man out there standing in a parking lot in a poncho selling The Contributor.  On a good day, these folks make – what – 75 bucks selling papers at a profit of 75 cents apiece.  My friend stopped and bought three papers, then the vendor said “you look like a man of God”, and handed him an envelope to give to the Church. In it was this note from his wife:

“Thank you God.                                                                                                                  For keep on (sic) blessing me. Please keep watching over me + family, Patrick Green. Please keep us in prayer. Thanks for everything. Please pray for Melanie Dickerson and Patrick Green.

Thanks,

Melanie Dickerson”

Also in the envelope was twenty-six dollars cash.  Now, here’s a couple who are homeless, spending their days on street corners trying to make enough money to eat or stay in a hotel room every once in a while. Washing clothes is an all-day affair, showers are a treat, and where they sleep many times depends on the weather. Yet despite all of this hardship, they have the faith to be thankful and feel blessed enough to give a substantial portion of their daily income to a stranger, believing that the blessings will continue.

It's really easy for us to get wrapped up in all the stuff.  We have to work hard to keep what we've “earned”. We have to be tough fighters to maintain our status and reputation. In the midst of this, it becomes very easy to forget about blessings and gratitude.  We can see every day that material success doesn't equal joy or happiness or freedom – many times it leads to the exact opposite. But nonetheless we get caught up in the material part of life. We lose ourselves in “things” and forget about what truly matters.

How can we be grateful for our lunch if we've never been truly hungry? How can we be grateful for our bed if we've never had to sleep in the gutter? We can't, and so we end up taking this stuff for granted.  I've been both hungry and homeless before and I still find myself taking the basics for granted. Maybe without even realizing it, we end up living for the “rat-race”.  We forget about the joys of life that come free of charge, and we forget just how lucky we are.

Grace. This is why a guy standing in the rain can give his wages to a stranger, and people with nothing can be seen laughing on street corners. In our pride, we try to seek out substitutes for joy in the form of stuff, power, praise, etc. The chase causes us to lose sight of the grace that we have, and gratitude ends up being relegated to a one-day formality accompanied by turkey and football.

We can't all be tragic. It's not our fault that we're so lucky.  We didn't choose our birth.  But we do choose what to do with this life.  Receiving grace from God is a choice.  Gratitude is a choice.  So is love and charity.  The charity of the gratefully fortunate begets more gratitude from its recipients.  So, as we kick off this new year, why don’t we try to practice more of it?  Let’s not wait until next November to start feeling compassion for those less fortunate folks around us.  And remember, we don’t have to be seated in front of a feast to give thanks.  So be grateful for what you have. Remember how blessed you are.  Give thanks for the grace that you’ve been given today, and share it - every day.

This letter was published in the January 2012 issue of The Contributor. The Contributor is a street paper distributed by Nashville's homeless to, among other things, provide homeless and formerly homeless vendors with a source of income.

Discussion 22 January 2011

PSALM PSALM 62:5-12

⁵   For God alone my soul waits in silence, 
          for my hope is from him. 
⁶   He alone is my rock and my salvation, 
          my fortress; I shall not be shaken. 
⁷   On God rests my deliverance and my honor; 
          my mighty rock, my refuge is in God.

⁸   Trust in him at all times, O people; 
          pour out your heart before him; 
          God is a refuge for us. 

⁹   Those of low estate are but a breath, 
          those of high estate are a delusion; 
     in the balances they go up; 
          they are together lighter than a breath. 
¹⁰  Put no confidence in extortion, 
          and set no vain hopes on robbery; 
          if riches increase, do not set your heart on them.

¹¹  Once God has spoken; 
          twice have I heard this: 
     that power belongs to God, 
¹²       and steadfast love belongs to you, O Lord. 
     For you repay to all 
          according to their work.

For Consideration

What is going on in verse 12? Where's the grace?

Discussion January 15, 2012

PSALM 139:1-6, 13-18

¹   O LORD, you have searched me and known me. 
²   You know when I sit down and when I rise up; 
          you discern my thoughts from far away. 
³   You search out my path and my lying down, 
          and are acquainted with all my ways. 
⁴   Even before a word is on my tongue, 
          O LORD, you know it completely. 
⁵   You hem me in, behind and before, 
          and lay your hand upon me. 
⁶   Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; 
          it is so high that I cannot attain it.

¹³  For it was you who formed my inward parts; 
          you knit me together in my mother’s womb. 
¹⁴  I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. 
          Wonderful are your works; 
     that I know very well. 
¹⁵       My frame was not hidden from you, 
     when I was being made in secret, 
          intricately woven in the depths of the earth. 
¹⁶  Your eyes beheld my unformed substance. 
     In your book were written 
          all the days that were formed for me, 
          when none of them as yet existed. 
¹⁷  How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God! 
          How vast is the sum of them! 
¹⁸  I try to count them — they are more than the sand; 
          I come to the end — I am still with you.

For Consideration

This Psalm brings tremendous comfort to those grieving, suffering, loneliness, those facing serious illness. How could this Psalm afflict the comfortable?


If we cannot comprehend God's knowledge. What does this Psalm suggest we try and understand?


Did God send Jesus so he would know what it's like to be human? 

Discussion January 8, 2012

GENESIS 1:1-5

¹In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, ²the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. ³Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. ⁴And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. ⁵God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

For Consideration

There is a car commercial on T.V. with a young child dressed up as Darth Vader. Little Darth is going around the house, arms stretched out in front, attempting to make things happen with the force. Nothing happens until the young Vader tries it out on his dad's car. Standing inside the house dad uses the remote control to start the car. Darth himself is taken aback and we all laugh or at least smile. 

For commercial: CLICK HERE

Why do we find this funny?

Jesus said, “The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63) In today's scripture God said, "Let there be light." His words created a new order. Does God speak to us though visions and dreams or is it safer to say we get to God the most simple way - words?

A Message from the Publisher

Merry Christmas

It is difficult to adequately express gratitude for the opportunity to be a part of our Sunday School Class. The effort of preparing for our weekly discussions combined with your participation in the Chapel have caused my faith and relationship with God to grow stronger. At least that's what I think (always a dangerous proposition. see Isaiah 55:8).

During this time of Advent our focus is the coming of the Lord incarnate. In several months we will be preparing for Easter. During Jesus earthly ministry we are taught how to love God and our neighbors. All of this culminates on the Cross of Christ.

We believe in Jesus Christ and trust in the reality of redemption. It is important for our relationship with Christ to be strong and grow. Our usefulness to God depends on that and that alone.

Please consider other ways outside our weekly class to become more useful to our Lord. If you have any suggestions please post to the blog or email me by clicking here. Emails will be kept confidential.

God bless you,
Greg M

Discussion for December 18, 2011

 2 SAMUEL 7:1-11, 16

¹Now when the king was settled in his house, and the LORD had given him rest from all his enemies around him, ²the king said to the prophet Nathan, “See now, I am living in a house of cedar, but the ark of God stays in a tent.” ³Nathan said to the king, “Go, do all that you have in mind; for the LORD is with you.”

⁴But that same night the word of the LORD came to Nathan: ⁵Go and tell my servant David: Thus says the LORD: Are you the one to build me a house to live in? ⁶I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent and a tabernacle. ⁷Wherever I have moved about among all the people of Israel, did I ever speak a word with any of the tribal leaders of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?” ⁸Now therefore thus you shall say to my servant David: Thus says the LORD of hosts: I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep to be prince over my people Israel; ⁹and I have been with you wherever you went, and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. ¹⁰And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may live in their own place, and be disturbed no more; and evildoers shall afflict them no more, as formerly, ¹¹from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel; and I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover, the LORD declares to you that the LORD will make you a house.

¹⁶Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure for ever before me; your throne shall be established for ever.

For Discussion:

Why is it important for the Messiah to be from "the house of David?"

What problems could this cause with Jesus when He actually showed up?