Unity. 1 Corinthians 1:4-10

Have you ever been in a group of people and had to come to an agreement on one issue. It's near impossible in some groups. People have different passions and different ideas and agreement is not always the first thing on their minds. This call to agree, that Paul gives in the tenth verse, is not an easy task. I think that's why the prior verses remind the reader that the power of Christ lives in them. They don't lack any spiritual gift. So now the call to unity and agreement is one that can be accomplished, because it is the Spirit of God that lives in them and gives them to accomplish the impossible.

1 Corinthians 1:4-10
4I always thank God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. 5For in him you have been enriched in every way—in all your speaking and in all your knowledge— 6because our testimony about Christ was confirmed in you. 7Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. 8He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.

10I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought.

Questions
1. Do you ever find it difficult to agree with people in the church?
2. What, in this passage, is helpful in overcoming this difficulty?
3. Why do you think agreeing with each other is so important?

Unsearchable God! Romans 11-33-36

This is a great passage from Romans. It's a doxology that Paul interjects in the middle of a passage about election and justification. It's almost as if he can't contain himself any longer and just has to break into this hymn to give praise to his God. He's writing about some things that are very difficult to understand and has to acknowledge how great God is and how far above us he is. We can look into the way he works on this earth with his people, but when it comes down to it this passage contains perhaps the most appropriate response.

Romans 11:33-36
33Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments,
and his paths beyond tracing out!
34"Who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been his counselor?"
35"Who has ever given to God,
that God should repay him?"
36For from him and through him and to him are all things.
To him be the glory forever! Amen.

Questions
1. What did you learn about God from this passage?
2. What did you learn about yourself?
3. What will you take with you from this passage?

The Rest of the Story. John 4:5-26

Here's the rest of the story from yesterday. I thought it would be good to have that as a context for the post from yesterday. Enjoy.

John 4:5-26
5So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour.

7When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, "Will you give me a drink?" 8(His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)

9The Samaritan woman said to him, "You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?" (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.[a])

10Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water."

11"Sir," the woman said, "you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?"

13Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."

15The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water."
16He told her, "Go, call your husband and come back."

17"I have no husband," she replied.

Jesus said to her, "You are right when you say you have no husband. 18The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true."

19"Sir," the woman said, "I can see that you are a prophet. 20Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem."

21Jesus declared, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."

25The woman said, "I know that Messiah" (called Christ) "is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us."

26Then Jesus declared, "I who speak to you am he."

God Can Use You Too. John 4:39-42

This is a short passage, but packs a huge punch in the first verse. A little background first...Jesus has just had a conversation with a Samaratin woman who had been married five times and was currently living with a man who wasn't her husband. Jesus told the woman this and she was surely a little shaken by his knowledge of this humiliating information. She tried to distract him with some questions about where the proper place to worship is, but Jesus wasn't ever distracted from his purpose. His purpose was to reveal to her that he was the Messiah, and her hope for life.

It's clear from the following passage that the lady believed in Jesus as the Messiah and take a look at what happens to her town. It was because of her testimony ("hey I just met the Messiah, he knew about all the men I've been sleeping around with") that they believed in him. God used this woman that many may have considered unusable, to reach a whole town with the truth of the Gospel. What an encouraging story for those of us who may feel unusable at times.

John 5:39-42
39Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, "He told me everything I ever did." 40So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. 41And because of his words many more became believers.

42They said to the woman, "We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world."

Questions
1. What would you do if a stranger sat down and revealed all your embarassing failures to you?
2. If God had to use you through one of your weaknesses, how would he use you?
3. What did you learn from this passage?

Hell. Matthew 13:36-43

I talked to a kid today about heaven and hell. He said he knew Jesus and had been baptized, but wasn't real sure about the whole hell thing. Said it didn't seem fair to go to hell just for sinning a few times. I explained to him what I think the Bible says about hell and he acknowledged that it's a good source on the subject. Based upone that conversation I think this passage is appropriate.

Hell is a real place and is a real consequence of being separated from God. If this is true, then we need to be telling people about that. They need to know.

Matthew 13:36-43
36Then he left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, "Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field."

37He answered, "The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. 38The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, 39and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.

40"As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. 41The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. 42They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.

Questions
1. Do you think hell is a real place?
2. Why do you think someone goes to hell?
3. Do you know anyone who you think may be in danger of going there?

Good Wife. Proverbs 31:25-31

If you check this blog regularly you may be wondering why this post was entered so late. Well today I took the role of Mr. Mom and found I had little time to do anything besides watch our son. It gave me a completely knew appreciation for my wife who raises him on her own from at least 8-5 every day. This post is dedicated to her. She's a great mom and a wonderful wife.

Proverbs 31:25-31
25 She is clothed with strength and dignity;
she can laugh at the days to come.

26 She speaks with wisdom,
and faithful instruction is on her tongue.

27 She watches over the affairs of her household
and does not eat the bread of idleness.

28 Her children arise and call her blessed;
her husband also, and he praises her:

29 "Many women do noble things,
but you surpass them all."

30 Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;
but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.

31 Give her the reward she has earned,
and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.

Approachable. Matthew 18:15-2

Do you ever read the New Testament, especially Acts, and wonder how the church was so dynamic and made such an impact on their world. It forces questions like, why aren't we more like that? Why aren't we making a difference in our communities like they were?

I think the answer to these questions have a lot to do with the passage below. When we're wronged typically we get a little upset and then either tell someone else about how terrible we were treated, and by a fellow christian at that. Or, we'll supress it and pretend like it doesn't bother us.

This passage suggests, or rather demands, that when we are wronged we take go directly to the person who wronged us with a forgiving heart. The purpose is to prohibit any disunity in the church. Jesus knew division would lead the church to ineffectiveness and so gives this command. Try it sometime.

Matthew 18:15-22
15"If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. 16But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that 'every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.' 17If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector.

18"I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

19"Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. 20For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them."

21Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?"

22Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.

Questions
1. How do you think someone would respond if you approached them like this passage tells us to?
2. How would you respond?
3. What's the most challenging part of this passage?