I John Chapter One

Here is the chapter, as in my NIV as written by the apostle John (most likely),

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen, with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched --this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete. This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you; God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.

Discussion:

• Discuss your thought in reference to the above italicized verses. What is it to claim to have fellowship with Christ yet walk in the darkness?
• Also, in the how often to we claim to have not sinned, when we do, possibly because we rationalize some of the things we do?
• The introduction to the Book of I John says that, "Because the letter addresses broad moral topics, it is clear that John's goal was to provide direction for those Christians who faced new challenges to their faith...As opposition to the believers' faith arose, John encouraged them to continue walking in fellowship with Christ, so as to not be drawn into false beliefs and sinful lifestyles." Discuss how this still hits home with us today...give some literal examples.

Drawing the Lines with our priorities and other things...

Overview of "The Great Banquet" Luke 14:15-23

Jesus tells this parable and begins by saying, "Blessed is the man who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God."

Summary of this parable:

A man prepared a great banquet and invited many guests. He told his servant to go and tell his guests that everything was ready. All of the guests had excuses about their time...one said he had just bought a field and he needed to go and see it, another said, he had just bought some oxen and needed to go and try them out, another said, he had just gotten married and could not come.

The man who prepared the banquet was angry and told his servant to go into the streets and invite the poor, crippled, blind and lame. The servant did this and there was still room, so they invited the people from the country lanes( which were probably cast offs in that time) The man preparing the banquet said, "I tell you, not one of those men who were invited will get a taste of my banquet."

Ephesians 1:3-14

This passage is a great pair to the parable of the great banquet. It is basically saying that ,"in Christ" as Christians, we are blessed with every spiritual blessing. He chose 'us' ...we are the invited guests....

Discussion

• In retrospect to the parable of the great banquet, what are the things in your life that are your excuses when it comes to time with God? I can think of many times when I have too much to do to attend Wednesday night church or too busy of a day to open up my bible and study. Does this ever affect you? It is kind of like God keeps inviting us to give us his most lavishing blessings...but I find myself at times to bogged down with my agenda. What does this parable speak to you? Where do you draw your lines here? I think this is a constant and ongoing personal struggle for me.
• Lets look at the Ephesians passage with the Luke passage. If we represent the guests originally invited to the banquet....can we be, "UN-invited?" The passage in Luke did not say that the people that he, "UN-invited" were adulterers, murders, liars and and horrible people....he simply said, they had other things to do. Again, where do you draw your line here?
• Do you have any good rules of thumb that you and your family go by? When I was young, my parents did not allow anything to interfere with our Wednesday night church(Unless we were sick). Once I was asked to have a large role in school play in the 4th grade. I had to decline, because the performance was going to be on a Wednesday night....I think that was a little harsh, because God did not say we must always meet mid-week. Looking back, maybe there was a happy medium, like maybe we would have a devotional time when we got home after the play or maybe the night before...but it did send a message that "God's time" was important.
  
  

Narrow Gate, Wise Man, and the Rich Young Man

Matthew 7:13-14

"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. "

Matthew 7:21-27
"Not everyone who says to me, Lord', Lord', will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, 'Lord, did we not go and prophesy in your name, and in your name, drive out demons and perform many miracles? Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!"
"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain came down, the streams rose and the winds blew and beat against that house and it fell with a great crash."

Matthew 19:16-end( summary)
The rich young man asks Jesus what good thing he must do to get eternal life. Jesus answers," If you want to enter life, obey the commandments,....Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother, and love your neighbor as yourself."
The rich young man replies, "All these I have kept,..what do I still lack?"
Jesus says, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." The man went away sad, because he had great wealth.
Jesus said to his disciples, "I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."
The disciples were astonished and asked, "Who then can be saved?"
Jesus replies, "With man this is impossible, but with God, all things are possible."

Discussion:

Oh so much to discuss from these small passages!!!!
Okay, if you have anything that you would like to bring to light please do...
1. (From the first reading) Have you found the road that leads to life...or are you unsure that your road could lead to destruction? We have a hope in Christ, and our baptism with him, but what are some ways that are easy for you to get off of that narrow road? What are some of your struggles with staying focused? What do you let distract you?

2. (From the second reading)I was talking to my sister-in-law(Elice) this past weekend and we were discussing this bible study. She made a comment that I really liked, and it actually goes right along with this passage. She said, I think , when the day of judgement come, when it gets right down to it, what the Lord is going to be the most disappointed in are not the things that I should not have done, that I did anyway, necessarily, but the things that I knew I should have done that I did not do." What do you think about this statement...what are the things you should be doing that you are not?

3. Okay people, you know what is coming here, how do you compare yourself to the rich young man, or possibly what is the area, that you are just not willing to "give up" for God's sake? I honestly think that if this man had sold his possessions to the poor and followed Jesus, he would have been blessed more than he could imagine. At our age, in our society, it is hard to steer clear of the want for more wealth and possessions, and to be content with what we have. It can be hard to not be whirled up into wanting nicer clothes, a bigger house, a better car, a membership at the club...and much more. I know I am constantly trying to let go of this and let God have control of this area of my life. Earle and I have many stories of how we have waited and said no and prayed about it, and God has blessed us....but then there have been times when the answer is simply, "no" from God. To be honest, right now, I really want a used mini-van, and I am hoping that the answer is yes! But I know that I don't need it to live! It would just be nice and much roomier! It is hard to live in America and know true need. Is this a struggle for you, or do you have a story to share of how you have been blessed by letting go of your desires for more? Where do you draw the lines with your wants and your needs and your faithfulness with your money and possessions?

Please share your thoughts! Hope everyone is having a great week!

The Line with our Compassion and our time.....

The Sheep and the Goats overview:

Matt. 5:31-end

Okay, we can see from this passage, that there definitely is a line in God's eyes of right and wrong. What defines it? Jesus basically says in vs. 34-36
"Come, you who are blessed by my Father, take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick, and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.

The righteous will answer Jesus,
"Lord, when did we see you hungry, and feed you, thirsty and and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?"

vs. 40
"I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers, you did for me."

Overview of the Wheat and the Tares (The reading was Matt. 13:24-30 But lets read on and see Jesus' overview in Matt. 36-43)

37-43
He answered, "The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. The 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. They will throw them into the fiery furnace where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear."

Discussion Taken from the Sheep and the Goats:

Define, who is the least of your brothers. How many times do we turn our heads without helping or listening to someone that needs it. How many times do we dodge people because they may annoy us, or be really long talkers or soak up our emotional energy? I will tell you that with my friends I could talk all day, but I definitely deal differently with different people. Did Jesus ever say, no, I do not have time for you? Or I am sorry, you bug me too much, I would rather go talk to my friend over here? How can we be more patient with that kid who harasses all of the other kids? Have we taken the time to get to know his mother? How can we be more compassionate to those who need us, without being taken advantage of. Apparently this was something that was extremely important to Jesus. Where do we draw lines with our time, and our emotional energy?

Discussion for the Wheat and the Tares:

As Christians, we are represented by the good seeds that grow to be the wheat. The whole point of this is that the weeds can kill out the good seeds. Who do we surround ourselves with socially? When I was a teenager, my mom used to say,"I don't like you hanging around so and so, they are not a good influence on you." I was always annoyed when she said that, but she had a point. Do we surround ourselves with friends that encourage us to be better Christians? Where is our balance? As adults, we are still influenced. Are you influenced at work in a positive or good way, what about at the health club or play group? These are all questions that I ask myself. There are so many aspects we could discuss from this...but the point is, in the end, God does have a line here.

I think the key in these passages is defining what some of these things are literally in our own lives. I hope that this gives us something to mill over for the next week. Please comment and share some of your thoughts. I liked what Elice said in the last post, the fact that we are wondering where the line is, is a really good sign. If we did not care, then we would probably be going down a more slippery slope! Have a good week!!

CB

Reading for Next Week

Please go ahead and read these passages to start our discussion next week:


The Sheep and the Goats – Matthew 25:31-End.

The Wheat and the Tares – Matthew 13:24-43

I am really looking forward to it!! Please be thinking about some areas that you may want to study on drawing the line or discussing where the line should be drawn. Please know that this is not as study to "preach" at people. I am truly trying to study where I should draw some of my own lines. I am trying to figure out what is okay in God's eyes. It looks black and white, but come on, lets face it, it is not. Here are some things that come to my mind:

• Someone has already mentioned discussing where our lines should be drawn with T.V. and Movies for our children, but also, what should we as adults not be so desensitized to?
• Wealth and Materialism ( What is Enough, learning to be content)
• Social issues, Gossip, Drinking, Language Content,
• Behavior with people at work, how we present ourselves towards people of the opposite sex other than our spouse, what messages are we sending?
• Are there some areas that are definately considered Politically Correct, but possibly morally and scripturally wrong, but that we have become more and more desensitized to...where do we draw our lines, but not pass judgement? How can we be more like Jesus in our response to these areas?
• Can you come up with some more?
  CB

Our Next Study !!!

Our Next Study Title is going to Be.....

Where Do You Draw The LINE???
Where do you draw your moral/ spiritual line?
Is your line drawn in the same place that God's line is drawn?
How can we not be "judgemental," but still be a strong christian example and person of God to our children, friends, at work and in the community. Where is the place where your opinion of what is right collides with God's opinion?

This is something I have really been thinking about for myself lately. Whether it is a line drawn socially with my friends, or being a wife or mother? We are going to look at several scriptures to study this. I want to make sure I know where to draw my lines...sometimes I feel that they can change. We are going to take a deep look at this and hopefully this will move an inspire we as people of God to be more confident of the examples that we are setting.
I will start posting this next week, which is the first week in June!! Hope everyones' summer is off to a great start!

CB

Job 38-42 The Lord Replies....

Brief Summary of Job 38-42

38-40
The Lord begins by proclaiming his omnipotence. He uses all kinds of description of the amazing mysteries in nature. He describes how he is the master of the deep, light, darkness, snow, hail, lightning, constellations, clouds, and dew. He is also the Creator of all animals and their Protector. Job, is in awe of God's power. He confesses his sin in arguing with God and being presumptuous.

40-42
God's power is contrasted with man's frailty. God basically asks if Job thinks he can run the universe better than He can. Job is penitent with God. He apologizes for questioning the ways of God and doubting God's providence. Job sees that affliction is God-permitted, to refine man so that he may see God, in all His greatness and splendor, and to see himself in his dispicableness and sin to the intent that man may repent of his pride in dust and ashes. God rebukes Job's friends for allowing their conventional ways to force them into lying arguments. Job sacrifices and prays for his friends, and he is saved and restored by the grace of God for his sins.


Discussion/Comments:

Wow, what a powerful book!!
1. After finishing the book of Job, how do you feel about the cycles of speeches, in particular, the Lord's speech? Do you still feel like the book was a true account or more like a play. Here are a few things that came into my mind while I was reading this last part. To make sure you know I am not going off on a crazy tangent, I really believe that Job was loosely based on the life of a real man, but the way it is presented seems like it could have been like that of a play. I know that all Scripture "God Breathed" so this, whether based truly on true incidents or not, was a powerful story that God wanted us to know. And the way it is presented to me does not really matter in the overall message.

38:31-33 The reference to Pleiades and Orion and the Bear and cubs...which I am presuming are referring to constellations...which to me go along the lines of the culture of that time in a play.
Also, there are some references to what looks like what we may presume some mythological creatures in chapters 40-41, the Behemoth, and Leviathan. My concordances referred to this as a hippo and an alligator, but when I looked up the Hebrew, there was not a definition for Behemoth, but for Leviathan, it said a "sea-monster" . Isn't an alligator/crocodile a fresh water reptile? So from the Lord's description, and the Hebrew translation, we are either talking, mythological creature, like a dragon, or maybe a huge beast of that nature that once lived in that day and age.

These are just interesting facts that I thought would be a good discussion. If you can find the Hebrew translation for Behemoth, please let me know..I am just curious at this point!!

Thank you for doing this book with me!!! Job has been a great study! I am planning to start a study back up again. I am not sure what book it will be on yet, but I am leaving for vacation next week and would really love some input. I am planning to start posting again at the beginning of June. Please, please, please comment and leave some suggestions! I will try to post the book that we will be doing before the beginning of June. Have a great couple of weeks!!!
Carrie

References for today's post: Pocket Bible Commentary by William Neil, the New Unger's Bible Handbook revised by Gary N. Larson, Hebrew-Greek Translation Bible