August 7, 2007

Ladies, I want to thank you all for participating in the book study. Our study was certainly a blessing and timely message for me. I hope it was for you, too. This book was recommended to me by a friend, so friends keep your eyes open for more books that would be good for another book study. Let’s commit to share the love of God through the study of His word, our fellowship, and through giving grace as abundantly as we receive it.
Chapter 14 is where we began today’s discussion. The focus verses in Romans 7:7-25 focus on sin (duh) and that which is good. The debate: Why do we keep sinning if we know it is bad, we know what is good, and we really, internally, want to do the good stuff? The group decided that the following verses are at the heart of the matter: v21 “So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.” As we mentioned a few weeks ago, as surely as God has a plan for good in your life, so the Devil has a plan for evil in your life. We struggle with the fleshly desires when we should heed to the desires of the Spirit living within us. It is a civil war. We must arm ourselves for the battle on a daily basis. Lucado refers to these warring factions as the “ought to” and the “want to”. Which side is going to win the battle today? Will today’s fight be recorded as a score one for the “ought to” or a point for the “want to”? The good news is this, Even if today’s battle goes down in the books as a victory for the enemy, you can get up tomorrow and beat the dickens out of him! And this is the weapon of choice for that battle: v24, 25 “Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God-through Jesus Christ our Lord!” Our yesterdays don’t matter to God if we have confessed our sin and accepted Jesus as our Lord and personal Savior. God “still claims you” no matter how badly beaten by the enemy you’ve been, no matter how long you’ve stood on the front lines of the wrong side, you are still His. Lucado reminds us of this truth “If your sin were too great for his grace, he never would have saved you in the first place.” Lucado gives us another weapon for the battlefield: “He still guides you.” God gave us an arsenal of heat-seeking missiles to launch at the enemy. Where can they be found? Within the pages of your bible. Daily reading the scriptures will surely strengthen your convictions, while making the enemy shake in his boots.
Let’s look at a focus verse for chapter 15. “Be kind and loving to each other, and forgive each other just as God forgave you in Christ.” {(Eph. 4:32) The New Century Version} The book of Ephesians was written by Paul during his imprisonment in Rome to the believers at Ephesus. Does anyone else find it incredible that Paul could write such beautiful words of forgiveness while being held in prison, mistreated and abused because he is doing what is good? So let’s get a different translation of the same verse and compare. The NIV says “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” The KJV says “Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.” Is anyone else seeing a theme here? The descriptions of our hearts may vary, loving, compassionate, tenderhearted, and kind but the scripture is clear, God’s word is clear that we are to be forgiving of one another. Lucado describes hatred as a habit. He mentions several techniques that we use to “settle to score”. Silence, distance, and nagging….check, check, and check. Been there done all of those! He says that we make a habit of bringing to mind the wrong that has been committed (though we claim to have forgiven), of seeking repayment (though nothing can be done to undo what has been done to us), of “indulging our hurts with doses of anger” (though we know that two wrongs don’t make a right). So how many times are we supposed to forgive? Scripture says “seventy times seven” (Matt 18:22) How can you continue to forgive without giving in? Lucado’s take on Peter’s question in Matthew 18 is this “Keeping tabs on your mercy, is not being merciful. If you’re calibrating your grace, you’re not being gracious.” Oh yeah and remember the “forgive” refrain in the Ephesians verse? Well, let’s look at the part that follows… “even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.” “…just as in Christ God forgave you.” “…just as God forgave you in Christ.” So the example has been laid by God. He is not counting the number of times we ask for forgiveness for the same sin…neither should we. We loved these statements that Lucado makes towards the end of the chapter: “The key to forgiving others is to quit focusing on what they did to you and start focusing on what God did for you.” “You will never be called upon to give anyone more grace than God has already given you.”
Lucado begins chapter 16 with three proclamations of grace. “First, only God can forgive my godlessness. Second, only God can judge my neighbor. Third, I must accept who God accepts.” Let’s go to Romans 15:7 for the biblical perspective: “Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.” As we discussed on Tuesday, the life of a “walking in the way” Christian is not a cake-walk. God has called each one of us to follow him, but the catch is this…each one of us has a different path laid before us. So often as we are on our path we see others on similarly laid trails and we walk alongside them for a while. We enjoy the conversation, we share stories about where our path has taken us and where it will end up, we steady each other when the path gets narrow or steep and encourage each other if we trip or fall. But occasionally someone comes along who is on a totally different kind of path. Maybe yours is one made of brick and theirs is a dirt path, cut into the green grass. The destination is the same but the route is slightly different. You and your brick-path friend look curiously at the dirt path fellow and whisper “My his feet are dirty! Wonder why he doesn’t walk on a real path like us?” “How in the world did he end up there?” Or “Poor fellow, he just isn’t doing it quite right.” “My path is made of brick and I know that’s right and good so a path made of brick must be a sinful one.” We tend to stick to those on similarly laid paths and question the validity of those on different paths. The point of Romans 15:7 is to unite in the belief that Christ loves us all and it doesn’t matter whether you like the dirt path folks or not. As long as they believe that Jesus is God’s son, that he died on the cross for our sins and rose again, then they have been accepted by God. We want to unite on our paths so that those still wandering lost in the forest will choose to follow us, choose to follow the path that God has laid for them.
In Chapter 17 Lucado discusses the focus verse from Romans 8:35 which reads “Can anything separate us from the love Christ has for us?” He has subdivided this into five sections that speak to each of us at different points in our lives. The first is “The question of Protection”. Romans 8:31 says “If God is for us, who can be against us?” God is for US so there can be nothing that holds any weight over us. Death? Nope, I’ve got eternal life. Sin? No, been forgiven. Worry? No, God will take care of me. We are protected because we are His. “The Question of Provision” is for those who wonder if God can really provide, can He really meet my needs? Well, He provided his son as a living sacrifice for my sin, sin that hadn’t even been committed yet. So, the answer is Yes! God “graciously gives us all things.” (Romans 8:32) The questions of Guilt and Grace go hand in hand. Do I have to feel guilty over sins of my past and will I exhaust the resources of grace to cover the sins of my future? No and No. If we have confessed our sin to God and asked for his forgiveness then any guilt we may feel is coming from Satan. He is trying to use it to beat us down. God doesn’t believe in guilt trips. So if you are experiencing one you either need to confess some hidden sin or tell Satan to get of your back because you are a forgiven child of God! The bible says “the wages of sin is death.” And although we will all eventually come to that end, the death here was that of Christ. He paid the price for our sin. If God can give his son to save our souls then I think he can keep us wrapped in grace until we are free from the sin in this world. And finally endurance. How long will God’s love last? Well, ladies how long will you love your children? When is the expiration date on that love? Forever, I will love my children forever. That’s it. That’s what God thinks of us. He will love us forever.
If you haven’t read the conclusion to the book, I highly recommend it. Page 183 fires off some tough questions that we need to use to examine ourselves. Have we been bragging about God in our lives? Have we found contentment? Do we open our arms to welcome those from different walks? Do we thank God for everything we have and do? Do we show God’s grace in our lives? Do we continually ask God to look after us? Are we in the Grip of Grace?

July 31

Romans 5:8 says “Christ died for us while we were still sinners.” Try reading that sentence and putting emphasis on a different word each time. “CHRIST died for us while we were still sinners.” Christ DIED for us while we were still sinners.” “Christ died for US while we were still sinners.” “Christ died for us while we were STILL sinners.” Lucado says that “God has made a covenant to adopt his people. His covenant is not invalidated by our rebellion. It’s one thing to love us when we are strong, obedient, and willing. But when we ransack his house and steal what is his? This is a test of love.” Christ died for us, God sent his only son to die for us, while we were still sinners, living in and loving sin! But God promised to love us and forgive our sins, to send a way for us to be with him in eternity. (I can’t find a happy medium between summarizing the book and summarizing the discussion so I am just going to jump in and hope you can keep up!)
In 2 Sam. 9 we see David begin to reflect on his friendship with Jonathan. He asks “Is there anyone still left in Saul’s family? I want to show kindness to that person for Jonathan’s sake.” Little picture: Jonathan saved David’s life, David promises to show kindness to Jonathan’s family. Big picture: God saves our lives (eternally), we promise (through our faith and through baptism) to show kindness to God’s family (that means everyone!).
Do you have someone in your life that comes with a subtitle? Susie, the homewreaker. George, the alcoholic. Liz, the one who got pregnant in high school. Do you think of yourself in terms of what you have done, good or bad? That was how Jonathan son Mephibosheth, the cripple, was reffered to. (I probably would have reffered to him as Mephibosheth, the one whose name I can’t pronounce or spell correctly!) Lucado asks “Isn’t there anyone who sees you for who you are and not what you did?” Once Mephi is found and escorted back to the palace, he falls before his lord (by lord I mean ruler of a certain land) and confesses “I am your servant” (2 Sam 9:6). David could do any number of things here but he chooses to openly welcome Mephi, to reassure him that he is in the right place, and to make room for him at the table. We are imperfect, crippled descendants of a royal lineage and we have been invited to dine with the LORD (by Lord I mean ruler of all things). We have been shown grace and mercy in our current, seriously flawed, state. Does anyone else feel a sense of relief? Whew, I’m glad to be at this table and could you please pass the potatoes?
Lucado provides us a partial list of what awaits us at the table. Go to page 104, 105 to see the full list. We discussed that we are most excited about being “delivered from the power of evil” (Col. 1:13). As someone said today ‘evil is everywhere here, on earth’. It is oppressive, it is mounting, it is daunting, but when we get to his table it will be no more. We mostly agreed that it is hardest to believe that “You are perfect” (Heb. 10:14) will ever apply to a big ole sinner like me! But won’t that be a great meal? A perfect me, eating with a perfect you, who is sitting across from a perfect God…..wonder what we will talk about?
The next three chapters were a real light bulb experience for me. I hope some of you felt like they provided some insight or highlight. I love the intro to this section where Lucado writes “The more we immerse ourselves in grace, the more likely we are to give grace.” That was a homerun statement for me. It really hit home and it makes me want to get up and run! And how true it is! Don’t you agree that the more focus we put on God’s grace in our lives, how he has forgiven even the worst of sins, leads us to be more forgiving of the worst of sinners in our lives? It’s not easy and it’s not always fun, but then again sending your only son to die on the cross for a bunch of selfish sinners probably wasn’t easy or fun either. Some people have a major problem with grace and the main reason is because “to accept forgiveness is to admit sin”. To allow God’s grace to dominate our lives is to admit that we sin, and sin a lot. Why do some people have a problem with that? I tell you what, it is a lot easier to live in a world where no one expects you to be perfect and to never be perfect, than it is to live in a world where everyone expects you to be perfect and you never are. I’m glad I don’t have to live with that perpetual disappointment. So let’s thank God with all our hearts and minds that he doesn’t expect us to be what we cannot ever be. He freely offers grace to those who will believe that it is there!
How many of you would consider committing adultery on your wedding night? Not many of us would. Sometimes we see our commitment to God as a convenience. But did you get married just because it was convenient? I think not. So if we take our baptism as seriously as our wedding vow s and we work as hard at our relationship with God as we do our relationship with our husbands, can you imagine how great it could be? Some people think: ‘I’ll pray real hard when I need something or when I’m in trouble but as for all the other times I can make it on my own. Oh yeah, and let’s have a don’t ask don’t tell policy for my sins…you don’t come right out and ask me about them and I won’t tell you about how bad I’ve been.’ But is that what our baptism in the cleansing waters was all about? Is Christ’s commitment to us that flimsy? Lucado says “To return to sin after sealing our souls in baptism is like committing adultery on your honeymoom.” Why bother even dunking your toes in the baptismal if that’s all it means to you? Now, of course it is inevitable that we will sin but let’s not try to hide it from God. That’s just a waste of time. Instead, let’s thank God for the grace he has shown us and really make use of it. Admit your sin and ask forgiveness and experience the relief and freedom and purity that comes from the love of God.
Have you ever asked yourself any of the following questions: Why doesn’t God just remove the temptation from my life? Why doesn’t God remove the enemies in my life? Why doesn’t God alter my personality to be more godly? Why doesn’t God heal my aching body and my broken heart? Why doesn’t God give me a great skill to use for his glory? I know I have asked almost all of them. Sounds a little whiny doesn’t it? I think we do that a lot with God. But as we see in 2 Corinthians 12:7-9 “My grace is sufficient for you, my power is made perfect in weakness.” We need some weaknesses (one of mine is writing, especially punctuation) so that God’s power, love and grace can be clearly seen in our lives. I love the quote from Lucado that reads “God would prefer we have an occasional limp than a perpetual strut.” So for whatever the circumstance, no matter how bad, God’s grace is sufficient. God’s grace is sufficient.

July 17 Chapters 6-9

So, when I turned to the first page of chapter six and I saw the title "Calling the Corpses" I thought 'wonder who he's talking about this time?'. I knew it wasn't me because I am still alive. Right? Boy was I wrong and in a big way! The focus of chapter 6 is on Romans 3:21-26 but we have to look back at the earlier verses to get the whole context. The gist of it is sin, a breaking of God's law, is bad...you remember the whole "throats are open graves and their tongues practice deceit" thing. But what the Jews and Gentiles alike were struggling with, as we do today, is that our golden ticket to forever paradise in our Father's castle comes in the form of wholehearted faith in Christ as Lord and Savior, not in upholding the law, not in maintaining every facet of the ten commandments. Lucado describes sin as the univeral problem and death as the universal condition. This sin that infects our lives is what rots our souls and renders us dead. This is what seperates us from God. Some choose to deepen the expanse by jumping in with both feet and splashing around in it. Others choose to lessen the great divide by confessing our sins to God and stretching out of our comfort zones to be who HE wants us to be. As Margie says, there is a 100 percent chance of death. Inevitable, unavoidable, death will come to our bodies whether they are old and worn or whether they are young and agile but what of our souls? I believe with all my heart and mind that our creatures, our beings were created with an inate desire to worship. God put in us a need to worship HIM. So what happens when we try to fill this need with something else? Think of the other basic needs; food, water, shelter, and love. So what if I come across someone who is in need of shelter...and I offer them some bologna. Can they make a house out of it? In case of a blizzard, could they wrap up tight in it and stay warm? Or what if someone is in need of food? They have the kind of hunger where it feels like your stomach might eat your right leg if you don't give it something soon. Imagine that starving person chewing on the side of a four bedroom. Tasty?? Filling???? Satisfying??? I don't think so. The person who refuses God or doesn't know him to begin with is not filled or satisfied, there is a constant yearning or longing for "something more". So we are the corpses only Christ is calling for us, He wants to fill us with His grace, mercy and love. Can you hear Him?
Chapter seven begins with a laughable scenario from Lucado's own life. It's all about the car insurance company cancelling his policy after he had proven he was a very worthy client. In other words, after racking up a few blemishes on his record he was kicked to the curb. Is that the standard operating procedure in heaven? You sin one too many times and God says 'it's been real but you're outta here'? No way no how! I loved the part in Lucado's book that says Salvation comes from heaven downward, not earth upward. It's not about what we do or did it is about what Christ did for us on the cross. Salvation has been offered and it is up to us to accept it. God wants to make us right with him. How do we do that? Some might see God's grace as an invitation to run willy-nilly. The willy-nilly runner says 'If God is going to forgive me then why not sin sin sin'? The reality is that if you truly accept Jesus as the Savior of your life then you will want to please him and you guessed it, not sinning is what pleases him. I love this paragraph "My eternal soul is under heavenly coverage, and Jesus isn't known for dismissing clients. He is known, however, for paying premiums and I'm paid up for life. I'm in good hands with him." So my question to everyone and to myself is this: How can we truly accept or even begin to understand God's forgiveness of our sins if we are not willing to forgive others of their sins?
The next chapter talks of the debt of sin. We tried for a minute to put a price tag on various types of sin. You know, how much should we charge for greed? How about envy? Adultery should carry a really high price. I know where the price tag is for greed, envy, adultery, malice, for murder, idolatry, and hatred. The tag hung on the cross. It died there. We are paid up even before we need it. Our sin debt has been canceled. Lucado says that "people accept Jesus as Lord before they accept him as Savior". I completely identified with this. In my mind Lord has always been LORD and Savior has been savior. But unless we accept both parts with equal excitement and reverence we are missing a big part. I love these verses from the MSG translation of Romans 4 "When everything was hopeless, Abraham believed anyway, deciding to live not on the basis of what he saw he couldn't do, but on what God said he would do". God said he would forgive our sins and give us eternal life. Let's just trust him to do what he said instead of trying to do it ourselves.
Chapter 9 starts out by recollecting the 95 MLB season. The professional players were complaining and demanding more money, they were refusing to play the game until their demands were met. So the owners decided to allow anyone who was willing and sometimes able to play in their stead. The result: there were players who played for the love of the game, players who cherished their standing with each other, with their fans, and with the people who served them, players who recognized the privilege they had recieved. So based on that brief description, are you a professional player who complains when things don't go the way you plan, who demands that your wants be met, who tries to bargain with the owner? Or are you a rookie who came willingly to the field not because of the fame and fortune but because you love the game, are you willing to play when and where the owner tells you, do you consider your position one of privilege? If we look at Romans 5:1-12 we find all the blessings that will be freely given if you come as the rookies did. Some of the highlights: Peace with God, no doubt about it he loves you and accepts you the way you are; A Place with God, walking hand in hand with Jesus into the throne room; Sharing in God's Glory, which is where we will begin our discussion next time.

Ladies,Thanks for coming today. I think we are off to a great start and I hope everyone is enjoying the book and the fellowship. If you couldn't be with us today, here is a recap (based on my non-existent capacity for memory)...First we reviewed the parable of river and we all agreed that the chart on page 8 and 9 was great. We mentioned that we can all identify with the various brothers at some point or another. We are reminded through this parable of the importance of educating the next generation with a tangible faith. One that we can draw on when temptation is near. We agreed that the image of the younger brother submitting to Firstborn and being carried back home is of great importance. We are not walking hand in hand but rather we are being carried all the way. Okay...how funny and up-to-date was the talk-show with Paul? I have often flipped through the channels to see some sensational mud-slinging show and wanted to tell them how wrong they were, and why, and who it's hurting. I think Lucado does a great job of illustrating that in Chapter 2. We agreed with the statement that "every broken heart, every unwanted child, every war and every tragedy can be traced back to our rebellion against God." How frightening the verses from Romans that start "God left them and let them go..., God left them and let them do..., God left them and allowed them to have their own worthless thinking." God is angry at the sin in our lives. He hates it and wants it gone...like the smoking biker your daughter brings home from college...He knows what is best for us and sin is NOT it. As Paul says in Romans 1:20...we have no excuse. God has laid it out plainly for us and there is no excuse for that behavior. How often can I hear my mother's voice saying those same words..(not to me of course but to my brother) 'it was wrong, you know it was wrong and you have no excuse, there is just absolutely no excuse for that' (most effective with left hand on hip while right hand is pointed and the guilty party shaking furiously).We loved the statement that "Creation is God's first missionary". Of course there is a God who loved us enough to create such a beautiful place for us to be stewards of while we are here. A big bang certainly couldn't have planned the fall foliage in the Blue Ridge Mountains or the glaciers of white blue ice in Alaska. Some people, as mentioned in chapter 3, who delve into the scientific realm see the explanation of cell division or photosynthesis as proof that no God exists but we argue that it should deepen your conviction of how awesome our God really his. He planned for each green leaf to go through that process. He knows all about mitosis and meiosis because HE made them happen. How can you believe anything else? Could it really just be random? And while were are asking dumb questions Are you sure the earth is round and not flat??? Just like the cricket, do we assume that since we can't see the creator that there was no creator?We are reminded that we were all created for God's purpose. Not to be a dentist, a singer, or a candlestick maker (although I hear there is a big demand for them these days), No we are created to worship the One who created us. Our worship should lead us to the desire to spread the great news of salvation and the great news that the world is not random...that we are not random. We have a purpose. I love when Lucado writes "They opt to be a human "doing" rather than a human "being". Who they are is what they do; consequently they do a lot." Isn't that how we feel? Where is my identity? How often do we introduce ourselves by stating our names and what we do, or whose mom we are? How about this? Hi I'm Susie and I'm a child of God. Okay so it might sound a little hokey but seriously isn't that how we should define ourselves. Put our faith on our nametag and wear it proudly. Next week we will be reading chapters 4 and 5. Hope you are enjoying the book.

Whew! That chapter 4 is some tough stuff! Today we discussed two chapters, one of which is a hard pill to swallow for a lot of us. "Godless Judging" even the title sounds ominous. Lucado begins the chapter by talking about Jeffrey Dahmer and his conversion to Christianity. We, like Lucado, struggle with this concept, that someone "as bad as Dahmer" can reap the benefits of heaven by repenting and putting his faith in Christ....after all he has done! Most of us have a Jeffrey Dahmer in our lives, maybe he didn't slice us up on the outside but he cut really deep, straight to the core, on the inside. We struggle with the "f" word...Forgiveness. How can I forgive so and so for this and that? It hurt so bad, it messed me up so I don't know which way is up, it left me not whole, broken. As I focus on what someone else has done to me, I tend to forget what I may have done to someone else. I also forget that Christ’s compassion on the cross is what mends the broken pieces of our lives, it is what binds us up and helps us face the next challenge. I make a comparison between my sin(stealing a penny candy) and their sin(robbing a bank at gunpoint). Mine wasn't so bad. I didn't even use a weapon! No one got hurt and boy did that candy taste good! Only God doesn't see it that way....sin is sin. (reminds me of the commercial Parts is parts)Surely I can ask for forgiveness for stealing that candy...no big deal right? God will easily forgive that. He has enough mercy to cover that little sin. But here is the good news, no matter how bad we mess up God has enough mercy to forgive us. He can forgive the bank robber packin a 757(okay I know that's a plane but I couldn't think of a gun name). If we repent and put our faith in Him, He will forgive us and wash away our sins. More good news, God, unlike homo erectus, does not compare us to them or them to us. That's why in Romans 3:12 we read, "there is no one who does anything good" because the only standard we are compared to is God himself. Lucado lists two reasons why God gets to do the judging, #1 We aren’t good enough. What a blow to the overgrown ego we carry around on our backs! He uses a moon jumping scenario to illustrate this point. God is the only one without sin, therefore the only one qualified to judge those who are sinful. We wouldn’t want the world’s worst ice skater judging the Olympics figure skating competition. We only want the best to judge us, so let’s leave that up to our Father in heaven. Reason number two is that “We don’t know enough”. I love the question “How can you dismiss a soul until God’s work is complete?” Maybe I should have some t-shirts printed up that say “Warning—Work in Progress”. God is still working on me and I am thankful that I am not being judged yet. We expressed our frustration about people in our lives who are making bad decisions and who don’t know God. But some of us are slow learners. It will take some people until their last breath to accept the reality that is salvation through faith in Christ. We have to wait patiently as God softens their hearts. It is not our time schedule, it is not how we would do it, it is not what we want for them. But then again, it’s not really about us and our wants. Natalie Grant sings “I thank God for another day, another chance to love the ones I love, to find my way”… and I say it’s another chance to live for God. All we have to do is ask for mercy and “by heaven’s grace we all receive it”.
Chapter 5 started off a little easier, on a day as hot as today I would jump in the boat with anyone who would have me just hoping for a glimpse of the water. Godless religion is often hard to spot. Some sin is loud and clear while other is sneaky and silent. Godless religion is one of those sneaky types. It is when we proclaim our faith not based on the merits of true faith i.e., trusting in God, having a PERSONAL relationship with God, and studying God’s word, but rather based on the symbolic evidence of faith like taking communion, being baptized, and carrying a bible. While those things are all fine and dandy without the other stuff, the deep stuff, the hard stuff, our faith is just surface level, not eternal. We don’t have to come from a long line of church-goers to be saved by grace. Paul is fussing at the Jews for trusting in a symbol rather than in their Savior. They saw their circumcision as a sign of superiority rather than submission. As Lucado says, the wedding ring is a symbol of love it is not the source of love. The cross on my necklace shows people that I believe in a risen Savior but if I take that necklace off does it mean that I no longer believe? My belief goes deeper than a necklace and my faith is more than a decoration. Sometimes these symbols come in the form of good works. There are some Marthas (read Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World) who do, do, do and do some more without stopping to be. Be with God, Be still with God, Be honest with God. Now don’t get me wrong we love a Martha who whips up a delicious dinner and is content to clean it up but what about the fellowship and friendship? Wouldn’t you be disappointed if you were asked to come for dinner and your host shows you to the living room and leaves you there. You look at the pictures on the wall, you test out the chair, you even take your sandal off to see if the carpet is really as soft as it looks. You are called to dinner, where you eat by yourself because your host is busy fixing dessert, and after dessert your host retreats to the sink to wash all the dishes. Now wasn’t that fun? Don’t try to do it all. Let God do God’s part. Now, we all have our part. I could bring the rolls and dessert next time so my host won’t have to worry with them. I’ll even offer to help wash the dishes. But next time let’s just talk, fellowship, spend some time together. Isn’t that what God wants? Put down your bible school materials, stop making a “To be Saved” list, turn off that TV evangelist and spend some time with God. What a difference it will make. (Of course this is not a charge to become a lazy bum, but we will get to that in a later chapter.) We also discussed how thankful we are that we can have a personal relationship with Christ. I am so glad that my faith doesn’t have to look like someone else’s. I have tried that and it is too exhausting. I was too busy watching what they were going to do next to see where Christ was leading me. ME. Yes God has an individual plan for each of us. Mine will look different from yours and that, my friends, is a good thing!

Welcome to Our Book Study

We will begin our book study on July 3. The following is a break down of the chapters and when we expect to be discussing them. If you would like to post your thoughts, reactions and questions that pertain to those particular chapters before the meeting date, we will be glad to share your post and respond.

"In the Grip of Grace" by Max Lucado
July 3 Introduction -3
July 10 4-5
July 17 6-9 At 9:30
July 24 NO BOOK STUDY
July 31 10-13 At 9:30
August 7 14-End