Easter

Since we couldn't meet together as a small group this week to discuss things in person, I wanted to briefly share some of my thoughts on Easter. Thanks for humoring me. If you'd like to comment on my thoughts, or leave some of your own, please feel free to do so.

I feel like in the past I have done a poor job giving the Easter season the attention it merits. (I guess I should say, I have historically done a poor job giving Christ the credit He deserves during the Easter season, but I think you know what I mean.)

In the past, I really haven't done anything to prepare myself for Easter. I certainly haven't ever counted the days like we often do for Christmas (264). As a whole, I think we Christians sort of treat Christmas as the Super Bowl, while Easter is relegated to Pro Bowl status. (For the women who are struggling to follow that analogy: Christmas = Ann Taylor Loft, Easter = Old Navy.)

For this Easter, I tried to make a concerted effort to be more mindful of Christ's suffering and death. I tried to recognize minor inconveniences for what they are, especially in light of the massive sacrifice He made for me.

I think (and so does A.W. Tozer, whose opinion carries far more weight than mine) that today, Christians settle for a view of God that is far from who He truly is.  In his book, The Knowledge of the Holy, he says:

The Church has surrendered her once lofty concept of God and has substituted for it one so low, so ignoble, as to be utterly unworthy of thinking, worshipping men. This she has done not deliberately, but little by little and without her knowledge; and her very unawareness only makes her situation all the more tragic.

The low view of God entertained almost universally among Christians is the cause of a hundred lesser evils everywhere among us. A whole new philosophy of the Christian life has resulted from this one basic error in our religious thinking.

I think the first step in truly celebrating Easter is by realizing who Christ really is. Tozer goes on to say,  "Our real idea of God may lie buried under the rubbish of conventional religious notions and may require an intelligent and vigorous search before it is finally unearthed and exposed for what it is. Only after an ordeal of painful self-probing are we likely to discover what we actually believe about God."

As you can see, when expressing myself, I often find that what I feel has usually been said by someone else far more eloquent than I, and this occasion is no different. Below is a Puritan Prayer that is about the Resurrection.

O God of my Exodus,
Great was the joy of Israel's sons,
when Egypt died upon the shore,
Far greater the joy
when the Redeemer's foe lay crushed
in the dust.
Jesus strides forth as the victor,
conqueror of death, hell, and all opposing
might;
He bursts the bands of death,
tramples the powers of darkness down,
and lives for ever.
He, my gracious surety,
apprehended for payment of my debt,
comes forth from the prison house of the grave
free, and triumphant over sin, Satan, and death.
Show me herein the proof that his vicarious offering
is accepted,
that the claims of justice are satisfied,
that the devil's sceptre is shivered,
that his wrongful throne is leveled.
Give me the assurance that in Christ I died,
In him I rose,
in his life I live, in his victory I triumph,
in his ascension I shall be glorified.
Adorable Redeemer,
thou who wast lifted up upon a cross
art ascended to highest heaven.
Thou, Man of sorrows
wast crowned with thorns,
art now as Lord of life wreathed with glory.
Once, no shame more deep than thine,
no agony more bitter,
no death more cruel.
Now, no exaltation more high,
no life more glorious,
no advocate more effective.
Thou art in the triumph car leading captive
thine enemies behind thee.
What more could be done than thou hast done!
Thy death is my life,
thy resurrection my peace,
thy ascension my hope,
thy prayers my comfort.

 What does Easter mean to you?

Questions from last week, Schedule for this week (March 28 -April 3)

Sorry this is a little late in the week, but here is the schedule for this week, as well as some questions from last week's reading. If you don't have a copy of our newest reading schedule, you can download it HERE.

REMINDERS:
We are working on our service project for our Caring for Clinton Day on April 18. So keep your afternoon free. (Childcare will be provided at the church.

We will not meet this Sunday evening as there are not evening activities at the church because of the Easter holiday.

This Week's Reading Schedule
Sunday - Judg. 4; 1 Cor. 13
Monday - Ps. 52; 1 Cor. 14
Tuesday - Ps. 42; 1 Cor. 15:1-34
Wednesday - Ps. 49; 1 Cor. 16
Thursday -  Ps. 50, 2 Cor. 1
Friday - Judg. 13:1-5, 24; 16; 2 Cor. 2:14-17
Saturday - Ps. 89:1-29; 2 Cor. 3


Questions from Last Week's Reading
Please feel free to comment with your own opinions. (I'll delete the stupid ones.)


1 Cor. 6- why do we try to separate our Christian lives from others parts of our lives? (Business, friends, etc)

1 Cor. 7- Why do you think Paul said it was better for single people to remain unmarried?

1 Cor. 8 - what is a modern day analogy for eating food that was given at an idol's temple?

1 Cor. 9 - Paul talks about preaching a relevant message in this chapter. How can we do this as a church, as a small group,& as individuals.

1 Cor. 10 – Obviously, we rarely run across opportunities to eat mean that had been giving as an offering to idols, but how do we create stumbling blocks for others today?

1 Cor. 11 - What do you think about the spiritual hierarchy as Paul relates it here?

1 Cor. 11 - Paul is addressing some issues ok jealousy & pride regarding spiritual gifts in the church at Corinth. They were apparently upset about the distribution of gifts & whose gift was more important. Why have we gone the opposite direction & never discuss our gifts, or acknowledge that we have them?

Josh 10 – How does the story of Joshua coming to the aid of the Gibeonites relate to our “true Joshua” (Jesus) today?

Josh 20 - What do you think the purpose is behind cities of refuge?

Josh 21 – What does God’s fulfillment of His promise to the Israelites mean for us today?

Next Quarter's Reading Plan

Here is the reading plan for the next three months. You can download it HERE.

Questions from last week, Schedule for this week (March 14-20)

Questions from Last Week:
Here are some questions that Rusty complied for last week's reading. We discussed most of these at our small group meeting on Sunday. For those of you who missed (or were there, but want to see what we didn't get to), here they are:

Galatians 1 - Paul is clearly angry at the Judaizers (v. 6-9). Who were they and what were they doing?
Twice in this passage Paul reminds the Galatians of his past. What is his purpose in doing this?
If you had to convince someone that Christ is real by giving an example of your own life, what would you say?

Galatians 2 - In verse 6, Paul says that “God does not judge by external appearances.” What man-made standards do we impose on others today?
Why do you think that Paul spoke to Peter “in front of them all” rather than privately?
Do you think this was the right thing to do?

Galatians 3 - In verse 3, Paul reminds the Galatians that they are still trying to please God by observing the law. What are some things that we do today that are religion driven rather than faith driven?
What does it mean to be clothed with Christ?

Galatians 4 - What makes the story of Hagar and Sarah such a powerful message for the Galatians? 



The story of Hagar and Sarah is symbolic and has a deeper meaning than first appears. The two women represent two covenants: Hagar the covenant of the law and Sarah the covenant of grace. The covenant of the law given at Mt Sinai produced slavery; thus Hagar, a slave girl, fitted that covenant. Hagar represents Jerusalem (vs 25), the center for unsaved Israelites who were still seeking to obtain righteousness by keeping the law. For Paul to link unbelieving Israelites with Hagar rather than with Sarah was a stinging characterization. True believers are born of God and faith in Jesus (vs 28) but they will often be persecuted and mocked by those born of the flesh, just as Ishmael mocked Isaac (vs 29). Paul goes on to encourage the Galatians to listen to the verdict of scripture (vs 30) that it is impossible to inherit God's blessings on the basis of human merit or effort; furthermore, those who trust in Christ have no connection with the law as a means of obtaining divine favor. They (and we) are the children of Sarah, the free woman.

Deuteronomy 8 - As you look back on your life, how have you seen God lead you as you wandered in the wilderness?

Deuteronomy 10:12-22 - According to these verses, what are our duties to God?

Deuteronomy 15:1-11 - Verse 9 speaks of wicked thoughts. Are wicked thoughts sins, and are they just as bad as the physical act of sinning? How do we often justify having wicked thoughts?

Schedule for March 14-20
Sunday - Deut. 26; Gal. 5
Monday - Deut. 28:1-19; Gal. 6
Tuesday - Deut. 31:1-8; Ps. 40; 1 Cor. 1
Wednesday - Deut. 33:26-29; 1 Cor. 2
Thursday - Josh. 1; Ps. 37
Friday - Josh. 3; 1 Cor. 4
Saturday - Josh. 7; 1 Cor. 5

See you Sunday evening.

March 6 Questions and Next Week's Schedule

February 28-March 6 Questions
Since we aren't meeting this week due to the leadership training event on Sunday evening, I've posted some questions to help direct your thoughts about this week's reading. Please feel free to ask other questions or thoughts in the comments section. We can conduct our "discussion" there this week.


Num. 27:12-23 - Many times, leaders are envious of those that succeed them, and at this moment Moses had extra incentive to be jealous toward Joshua. How do you think Moses was able to set Joshua up to succeed, when he was understandably disappointed that he would not enter the promised land?

Num. 30 - Why do you think the rules for vows made by men are different than those made by women? Why did a woman have to have her vow "validated" by her father or husband? (I really wish we could have discussed this one. This would probably have been a spirited discussion!)

Mark 8 - Why do you think Jesus sometimes told those that he healed not to tell anyone that He was the one who healed them?

Mark 10 - In your own life, what would be the thing that you have the most trouble giving up to follow Jesus?

Mark 11 - In this chapter, Jesus curses a fruit tree that doesn't produce fruit. He then goes directly to the temple and wreaks havoc on the religious people there. Then he walks back by the fig tree and talks about how faith produces action. Do you think these three events are all related? Can you relate John 15 to these three events?

Mark 12 - Jesus gives a stern warning to those who would act like the scribes of that time. Do you sometimes try to impress people with our church attendance, or prayers, etc? What kind of "reward" do you think is in store for such actions?


Mark 13 - Jesus mentions His return and urges us to "stay awake." What are ways that we can stay alert and be ready for Christ's return?

1 Cor. 13 - This is the famous "Love Chapter." Often when I read this, I try to apply it to other people, and not to myself. In what ways would your life be different if you loved like this chapter says?

March 7-13 Reading Schedule

Sunday- Deut. 5:28-33; Ps. 43; Mark 14:1-26
Monday - Deut. 8; Mark 15:16-41
Tuesday - Deut. 10:12-22; 11; Mark 16
Wednesday - Deut. 15:1-11; Gal. 1
Thursday - Deut. 18:9-13; Ps. 38; Gal. 2
Friday - Deut. 20:3-4; Gal. 3
Saturday - Deut. 23:9-25; Gal. 4

Have a good week. See you next Sunday.

Week in Review, plus Feb 14-20 reading schedule

Sunday's Discussion
What a great discussion we had Sunday night! Rusty didn't even get to a third of the questions he prepared as we started with a bang and then the group ran with it for the rest of the time.

If you missed it, we (of course) missed you, but you also missed what was one of the best discussions yet. We pretty much solved all of our church's problems, and since Alan sits in on staff meetings every week, we are going to get him to strong-arm the rest of the staff to implement all of our solutions. Because the truth is, the stuff we want to do is right and anyone who disagrees with us is obviously out of sync with God's will for their life. (If you take offense to anything in the previous two sentences, please leave this blog and go read THIS.)

Dr. Compton is preaching a sermon series about what a Christian's life should look like if the Holy Spirit is working in them, this past week, we read a lot in Acts, where we are seeing the Holy Spirit really getting to work, and on Sunday night, our small group also touched on the Spirit as well. (A coincidence?)

 We talked about how we can get church just like we want it, it can be attractive and bring people in the doors in large numbers, but that doesn't mean that the Holy Spirit is involved.

In his book, The Forgotten God, Francis Chan says the same thing:

"I bet you'd agree that a group of talented, charismatic leaders can draw a crowd. Find the right creative team, musicians, and speakers, and you can grow any church. It doesn't even have to be a Christian church. I can probably 'pull off' a fairly adequate church on my own as well. But who wants or needs that? I don't want my life to be explainable without the Holy Spirit." 

The point is, that while we can set up a service, or even an entire church that makes us feel good. If the Holy Spirit isn't involved, we are wasting everyone's time. The Holy Spirit's presence and involvement is what makes any effort we put forth valuable.

In The Valley of Vision, a collection of Puritan prayers, there is a prayer to the Holy Spirit that contains the following excerpt:

"Vain are all divine purposes of love
and the redemption wrought by Jesus
except thou work within,
regenerating by thy power
giving me eyes to see Jesus,
showing me the realities of the unseen world."

 For those of you who don't speak the King's English, the writer of that prayer is saying, "Without the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we can't even realize the redemption that Jesus extends to us."

Wow.

How catastrophic it is for us to neglect to seek after the Spirit with our worship instead of our own comforts and desires like song preferences and sermon topics! If we get distracted by those things, we are holy missing the point! (You like what I did there, don't you? Get it "wholly" & "holy"? They are homonyms. I'll be here all week.)

Questions from Sunday
Below are the questions that Rusty came up with for our discussion on Sunday night. While we only covered a couple of them, they all are very useful for reflecting on what we read last week.

Acts 14-20 details some of the missionary journeys of Paul. Throughout your reading this week, how did God speak to you, and what did He point out to you that stuck with you?

Acts 14
What do you feel it was about being rejected that caused Paul and Barnabas to spend considerable time speaking boldly?

How do you think that Paul knew that the crippled man had the faith to be healed?
How do you feel the crowd could be so easily changed from worshiping Paul to stoning him?

Acts 15
The early church was making it difficult for the Gentiles who were turning to God by forcing them to obey the Jewish Law...can you think of ways the modern church makes it difficult to turn to God?

Paul and Barnabas had an argument that caused them to part company.  Does the Bible say either of them was right? What do you think was the real cause of their disagreement? Do you think Paul was right to part ways with Barnabas?

Acts 16
Why do you think a demon would want to promote the gospel (vs 17)?

Acts 17
Since Paul received mostly rejection in the synagogues, why was it his custom to always go there first?

Acts 18-19
What do you think prompted Paul to ask the disciples (vs 2) if they had received the Holy Spirit?

What is the difference in baptism by John and baptism by Jesus?

What do you feel was the motivation of Demetrius in opposing Paul?

Acts 20
Why do you think Paul sent the disciples on ahead of him?

Schedule for February 14-20
Also, I know most of you have a copy of the reading schedule, but here is the schedule for this week:

Sunday - Lev. 23:3; Ps. 24; Acts 21
Monday - Lev. 25:17-19; Ps. 25; Acts 22
Tuesday - Lev. 27:30; Acts 23
Wednesday - Num. 2:34; Acts 24
Thursday - Acts 25
Friday - Num. 6:24-26; Ps. 22:8-11; Acts 26
Sunday - Ps. 23; Acts 27

Have a good week. Feel free to comment, as some of you have promised you'll do. See you on Sunday.

January 31 - February 6 Reading Schedule

What up, Smallies?  Here is our reading schedule for this week. Keep in mind that we won't be meeting on Sunday due to some sporting event that some people think is a big deal, but I'm not sure what it is. I mean, the World Cup doesn't start until June 11. 

So, for your own study and reflection, I have included a few questions, as well as some of my selected thoughts. If you have any comments you'd like to make, please use the comment section. I'm sure the 2 people that read this blog would benefit from your point of view.

Sunday - Ex. 29:44-46; Acts 7
Monday - Ex. 32, Acts 8:1-25 

Tuesday - Ex. 33; Acts 9:1-19, 31-43 

Wednesday - Acts 10 

Thursday - Ps. 19; Acts 11 

Friday - Ex. 40:34-38; Ps. 15; Acts 12

Saturday - Acts 13

Questions for Reflection:

Exodus

Ch. 32 - Why do you think Aaron was convinced by the people to create a golden calf for them to worship?

Ch. 33 - What do you think it means when God told Moses that "I know you by name"?

Ch. 40 - The Israelites knew when they were supposed to move when they saw the cloud moved from the tent of meeting. What are signs that we have now that help us know God's will?

Acts

Ch. 7 - Why do you think Stephen answered a Yes or No question with a 1,200 word answer? What do you think he was trying to prove to the Sanhedrin?

Ch. 8 - Simon the Magician wanted the honor associated with the powers bestowed to the apostles so much that he was willing to pay for it. What does this say about his sincerity regarding his true relationship to Christ?

Ch. 9 - Saul thought he was doing the work of God by arresting and imprisoning Christians. What are modern examples of people thinking they are doing God's work, but are really working against Him?

Ch. 10 - How can we apply the lesson Peter was taught in his vision to our lives now? Who or what do we consider unclean, when, in reality, God has made it clean?

Ch. 11 - In verse 26, it mentions the first time that the followers of Christ were referred to as "Christians." How is this term used today, and how do unbelievers view most of the people who claim to be Christians?

Ch. 12 - Herod allowed the people to call him a god, and the real God turned him into a worm farm for it. Why do we often like to take the credit for things that God has done in our lives? How is this a dangerous thing for us to do?

Ch. 13 - Look at the list of people that are mentioned in the first verse of this chapter. What a wide variety of people! Saul (a Pharisee from Cilicia in southeast Asia Minor), Barnabas (a Cyprian Levite), Simeon (a black guy), Lucius (a Roman from Cyrene in North Africa), and Manaen (formally a companion to Herod Antipas), were all gathered as brothers and fellow prophets/teachers. Why, 2000 years later are our churches so much less diverse racially, culturally, and socioeconomically?

My Thoughts:

I selected a couple of the passages above to focus on and share with you a few of my thoughts:

(The opinions and views expressed in the following paragraphs are solely of the individual whose name appears at the bottom of this post and are necessarily not the views of the Bryant-Taylor Small Groups, its parent, affiliate, or subsidiary members.)

Acts 9

Saul was on his way to Damascus to persecute followers of Jesus. He honestly believed he was doing the work that God would have him do. I started thinking of modern day examples of people who think they are doing "God's work" while they are quite obviously wrong. I immediately thought about people who shoot up abortion clinics or bomb the cars of doctors who provide abortions. I also thought about Muslim terrorists who crash planes into buildings believing they are obeying and honoring their god, when they are actually bring him into disrepute.

As I was reading this passage, my mind went immediately to Romans 5:8, which says, "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 man, though for a good man 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."

Paul write these verses out of his very own experience. While he was on the road to Damascus to persecute Christians, Jesus intervened in his life. Paul did nothing to deserve this. He had made no move toward God. He was running the other way completely. Jesus saved Paul at his worst, and Paul remembered that when he wrote his letter to the Romans.

Acts 11

In his biblical commentary, Matthew Henry says being called a Christian "denotes one who, from serious thought, embraces the religion of Christ, believes his promises, and makes it his chief care to shape his life by Christ's precepts and example. Hence it is plain that multitudes take the name of Christian to whom it does not rightly belong. But the name without the reality will only add to our guilt. While the bare profession will bestow neither profit nor delight, the possession of it will give both the promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. Grant, Lord, that Christians may forget other names and distinctions, and love one another as the followers of Christ ought to do. True Christians will feel for their brethren under afflictions. Thus will fruit be brought forth to the praise and glory of God. If all mankind were true Christians, how cheerfully would they help one another! The whole earth would be like one large family, every member of which would strive to be dutiful and kind." (Emphasis mine.)

What an honor it must have been to be called a Christian during this early time. While it was probably meant as a derogatory term from unbelievers, it meant that you were noticeably different from the world. It meant that you had made such an impact that others had taken notice of you and gave you a name for it.

Now it is often the opposite that is the case. These days, people label themselves as Christians, and then go out and engage in behavior and express opinions that are completely contradictory of the example that Jesus Christ gave us. Too often, I have called myself a Christian, and then sullied the name of Christ through my own actions and words. I have used the name flippantly, and I feel it's a violation of one of the Ten Commandments we read last week. (Ex. 20:7).