The Right Stuff

Read It: Philippians 4:8-9 (NRSV)

⁸Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.  ⁹Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.  

Learn It:

This passage is a wonderful reminder for us each day.  It reminds us to think about all those good things in our lives that we can do for ourselves and for others.  Think about what is true...not what is true like a true false question but what is God's truth.  Think about what is honorable...what are the things that you can do that will honor God.  What is commendable...what are the things you can do that God will say you have done well my good and faithful servant.  What things can you do that will bring about not your praise and your excellence but let others see the praise and excellence of God.  Keep doing each and every one of those things and the peace of God will be with you.  God's peace isn't just a nice time of quiet, but God's peace is something that goes much deeper and more complete.  Having peace with God is being in relationship with God.  Peace with God is fulling trusting in God's promises and knowing that God's promises are faithful and true.  

Share It:

What are the times when you have felt God's peace?  When have you felt that you were in a full relationship with God?  Was it a time when you were away or just a moment where you felt everything was right with the world?  What are some ways that you can help to spread that peace?  What kinds of true, honorable, just, pure, pleasing and commendable things can you do for God to help bring about his peace?  Share these questions and anything else that may come up during this time.

Live It:

Try to find a way this week to live in peace with God, or try to find a way to live out one of those ways in the passage above.  Try to be just or pure or honorable, etc...

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Intended to Be

Read It: Romans 8:18-25 (NRSV)

¹⁸I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. ¹⁹For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; ²⁰for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope ²¹that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. ²²We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; ²³and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. ²⁴For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? ²⁵But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

Learn It:

I wonder if when we look at creation we see it waiting to burst with joy.  When we look at the beauty of what God has created can we see the goodness that is in it and see what it is all mean to be?  This feeling that creation has and even we have in ourselves is the Spirit working in and through us.  Paul tells us that all of creation and even our bodies are eager to return to the closeness of God that we once shared long ago.  Basically we are waiting for the day, whether we know it or not, when all of creation can return to the way it was before the fall.  In all the waiting that we do consciously or unconsciously we live with hope.  Hope is what keeps us going from day to day knowing that we have been saved and knowing that there will be a day when all it comes to happen.

Share It:

Are there things that you notice from day to day or every so often that make you realize just how much life is bursting out all around us?  What are those things you notice and would you say that is life finding a way to go back to the way God intended it to be?  Why or why not?  In what ways does your life reflect a way that is eager for creation to return to the way it should be?  If the world were to return that way what do you suppose it would look like, sound like, feel like, be like?  If creation were as it should be describe how you would imagine it being.

Live It:

Take this week to enjoy creation and see the ways that it bursts with life.  It may not be perfect but life always seems to find a way to show itself even in the darkest of times.  Find those times of joy and light...of hope and share them with someone so that they too can see the joy of creation reaching its potential and its intended purpose.  

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Blessed Difficulties

Read It: Acts 7:56 (NRSV)

56 “Look,” he said, “I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!”

Learn It:

Read the whole Acts story (Acts 7:55-60) from this Sunday's story.  It is such a violent story that seems rather odd to include, but my favorite part of the whole story is the line I have quoted above.  Amid all the anger and violence, though, is this profound statement of faith declaring Jesus as resurrected and being with God in heaven. Then again in verse 60 you can see that Stephen also asks God not to hold the sins that they are committing against them.  In the midst of his death he focuses on the his faith and the well-being of others.  I think this is such a wonderful picture for us.  No matter how bad things get and no matter how dark the world can seem at times we have this certainty that God is God and that God is present with us through all aspects of our life.

Share It:

What difficult times have you faced recently in your life?  Have you sought God during them?  Have you declared Jesus as the resurrected Son of God during those dark or difficult times?  Talk about what difference it might make if you were to instantly declare the greatness of God when you began to face adversity.  How might that change your viewpoint of the situation?  How might it change your attitude as you walked through that point in your life?

Live It:

Take this next week to focus on the difficult times you are dealing with (either ongoing or ones that occur in the future) and take them as opportunities to declare the greatness of God and the presence of God in those moments so that  you can see the goodness and mercy of God.  See what difference that makes and how it might change your relationship with God in your daily faith walk.

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Never Disappointed

Read It: Romans 5:1-5 (NRSV)

Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. 3 And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. 

Learn It:

It seems interesting that Paul suggest that we should boast in our suffering.  Many times in our lives I think we look at our suffering and think of the things we did wrong or things we could have done different to avoid whatever suffering is going on in our lives.  We then use that information to either make the suffering right or we don't do those actions again so that we can avoid it.  But Paul lets us know that it's ok to suffer.  It's ok to mess up at times in our lives because the end result is a hope that will never disappoint us.  Never being disappointed seems like a pretty nice deal in the end.  We boast because we have hope which has been given to us by the Holy Spirit who made us right with God...who justified us. Think of the first two verses as the result of the rest of the verses.  Paul is giving us the end result first and then telling us how we get there.  The end result is pretty amazing...look at the verses again.

Share It:

What kinds of things have you suffered from?  Share a story about a time when you had to endure some kind of hardship.  What was it like when it first happened and then what was it like when you realized you were past it?  Then talk about how you view the experience now.  Did you learn anything?  Have you grown in faith or in character because of the experience?  Did you rely on God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit to get you through the suffering?  Can you use the stages that Paul describes in verses 3 &4 and fir that with what you experienced?  Have everyone share and remember that we all experience different levels of suffering, but for us they are very real.

Live It:

The next time you experience some kind of suffering, whether big or small, think about boasting instead of wallowing in the pain or hurt.  Think about these verses from Romans and how much we have to be grateful for because of what Christ has done for us.  Think about how you will never be disappointed in the hope that God provides for us daily through the gift of the Holy Spirit.

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