Tuesday, December 25, 2007
DONT COME
Sorry guys, but we have to cancel Focus this week. (26th) With it being the Holiday season and all we just have other obligations. So stay home and enjoy whatever family you have been neglecting all year! Merry Christmas and We'll see ya in '08!
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Im Ticked!
haha, But what should we do when we are mad? This week we will read all of ch. 5 and then ch. 6 1- 15! No questions this week, we will have some sweet discussion ready though!
Saturday, December 8, 2007
Oh Satan, Your a Silly Goose!
Hey Guys! I hope your week is going good! So for this week we are going to be reading through Chapter 4 of Matthew. This is where Jesus shows how much of a champ he is. Satan comes up and bites Jesus with the temptation bug. I dont wanna spoil it for you, but I suggest you read it. AGAIN, its not THAT long. I read more driving to work than there is written in this chapter. Anywho, I said we would have 2 Questions this week. The first I just want you to answer to yourself, just to help you think about the text, then maybe post something with your thoughts on this blog. The second is one I will ask during Focus, to help liven up the group.
Q1: Do you think Jesus was actually tempted?
Q2: Why did Satan choose this moment to tempt Jesus?
Pretty easy huh! See ya soon!
Q1: Do you think Jesus was actually tempted?
Q2: Why did Satan choose this moment to tempt Jesus?
Pretty easy huh! See ya soon!
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Still a Bit Blurry
Hey Guys,
Last week we covered Chapters 1 and 2. We didn't go THAT in depth but we had a good start to our new FOCUS group. Like I said, This week we will keep it light one more time and I just want you guys to read through chapter 3. Just READ. Here is the deal for this week. Pray. Pray for our group and whatever direction we are heading. Pray for Gods truth to come to us. We have a little more tweaking to do before we begin inviting new people. Im sooooooo freakin excited about what we are doing! Ill prepare a more thorough plan for this wednesday, hopefully itll run smoothly and we'll grow a lot. Beth wont be with us because she is having knee surgery, so pray for that. See ya wednesday!
Last week we covered Chapters 1 and 2. We didn't go THAT in depth but we had a good start to our new FOCUS group. Like I said, This week we will keep it light one more time and I just want you guys to read through chapter 3. Just READ. Here is the deal for this week. Pray. Pray for our group and whatever direction we are heading. Pray for Gods truth to come to us. We have a little more tweaking to do before we begin inviting new people. Im sooooooo freakin excited about what we are doing! Ill prepare a more thorough plan for this wednesday, hopefully itll run smoothly and we'll grow a lot. Beth wont be with us because she is having knee surgery, so pray for that. See ya wednesday!
Monday, November 26, 2007
Focus
Instead of Calling our Smallgroup a Smallgroup, we will be calling it Focus. (No this is not a church Plant!) Its good to have a name to associate our specific group with. That way when we start bringing in new people it will give them a quick reference to our specific group! Why Focus?? As the Majority we are all from a generation of people who cant seem to sit still. Everything is fast paced and before we know it we have clumped our entire lives into one big blur of an action. I chose to call our group Focus because its time to sit, and focus our attention. Put our whole lives into Focus. Focus on Jesus!! Because one of the most heartbreaking things happenening in todays young church is that we have clumped Jesus into this ritual we call our week to week lives. Jesus is no longer a focal point, he has been reduced to a once a week task that you can also fly past as easily as saturdays football game. Its time to Focus.
Come Hungry- Leave Thirsty
Hey Guys,
Here’s the Plan, I typed up a quick summery of Matthew, just to give you a bit of an understanding of the book before we dive into it.
Matthew is the first book of the New Testament, it was written between 50 and 70 A.D. Matthew is one of the four Gospels. Now, the four Gospels are basically the same stories, as told by the different disciples, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Matthew was the first one to write a Gospel testifying of Jesus Christ. As we read through these 4 books it will become evident that some things are written differently between the four disciples. Some view this as a weakness to the gospels and inherently diminishes their legitimacy. The Gospel of Matthew presents many important facts and significant lessons. First, it clearly establishes that Jesus Christ is the Messiah that was prophesized throughout the Old Testament. Second, it proves that Jesus was the Son of God, whom He claimed to be through living a sinless and perfect life. Third, the Gospel records Jesus performing miracles over nature, healing people, and raising the dead. Fourth, Jesus personally gives over 200 real and practical lessons of how God desires people to live, respond through challenging circumstances, and make choices regarding their future for eternity. Every word spoken and written in this Gospel can be applied to life in a practical manner.
So here’s what I am hoping to see. I read through all of Matthew today, so I think it is fair to say that you guys can read a chapter or two by Wed. I know it’s kinda late notice and I’m sorry for that! It’ll be easy though. To make things easier, I am going to do chapter one on my own. Chapter one explains the Genealogy of Jesus. I’ll cover the significance and basic outline of it as fast as I can.
In the spirit of Christmas, I am asking that you guys read through chapter 2 of Matthew. This tells of Christ’s Birth. For this week, just read it. You don’t need to do an in depth study or anything like that. The Goal of our Bible study now is to actually read the Bible and get a better understanding of it. I’ll be the first to admit, I SUCK at finding time to dig into my bible and read. We all need to be there for each other to encourage each other to read and grow in the word. So please, we are going to start off slow and just read, and as our study goes on then we can lengthen our readings and I’ll be giving study notes and questions that will hopefully help you better understand the context of what we are studying.
Wednesdays will be running a bit different this time around. I hope that as we go on we can start inviting other to join with us.
Here is my conviction, I am not satisfied. Every day I wake up exhausted from battling through the week in a meaningless pursuit of money, watching lame movies that never made it to theaters, and eating. It literally has made me bitter, un-filled, and over-all depressed. This life was meant for one thing, to glorify God in every aspect of our lives, and to reflect him so that others may come to know him. I pray that it is so evident in our lives, the joy that Jesus gives us, that others who also feel empty without him can see our full satisfaction in Jesus, and yearn to know him. That is why I want to see our group grow, with fresh people that want to know Christ. That should be our ultimate goal, bringing people to Christ. Our first step is knowing his word, TRULLY knowing Jesus. That is why we are beginning with the Gospels. I hope we all come hungry and leave thirsty for more. I have started this for easy use. This will just be for us. So instead of sending out an E-mail, you will just have to check on the blog for what we are studying and any study questions I might think up. That way through the week we can encourage each other and even provide your own questions too.
Hope you guys are having a good week and I will see you on Wednesday!
Here’s the Plan, I typed up a quick summery of Matthew, just to give you a bit of an understanding of the book before we dive into it.
Matthew is the first book of the New Testament, it was written between 50 and 70 A.D. Matthew is one of the four Gospels. Now, the four Gospels are basically the same stories, as told by the different disciples, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Matthew was the first one to write a Gospel testifying of Jesus Christ. As we read through these 4 books it will become evident that some things are written differently between the four disciples. Some view this as a weakness to the gospels and inherently diminishes their legitimacy. The Gospel of Matthew presents many important facts and significant lessons. First, it clearly establishes that Jesus Christ is the Messiah that was prophesized throughout the Old Testament. Second, it proves that Jesus was the Son of God, whom He claimed to be through living a sinless and perfect life. Third, the Gospel records Jesus performing miracles over nature, healing people, and raising the dead. Fourth, Jesus personally gives over 200 real and practical lessons of how God desires people to live, respond through challenging circumstances, and make choices regarding their future for eternity. Every word spoken and written in this Gospel can be applied to life in a practical manner.
So here’s what I am hoping to see. I read through all of Matthew today, so I think it is fair to say that you guys can read a chapter or two by Wed. I know it’s kinda late notice and I’m sorry for that! It’ll be easy though. To make things easier, I am going to do chapter one on my own. Chapter one explains the Genealogy of Jesus. I’ll cover the significance and basic outline of it as fast as I can.
In the spirit of Christmas, I am asking that you guys read through chapter 2 of Matthew. This tells of Christ’s Birth. For this week, just read it. You don’t need to do an in depth study or anything like that. The Goal of our Bible study now is to actually read the Bible and get a better understanding of it. I’ll be the first to admit, I SUCK at finding time to dig into my bible and read. We all need to be there for each other to encourage each other to read and grow in the word. So please, we are going to start off slow and just read, and as our study goes on then we can lengthen our readings and I’ll be giving study notes and questions that will hopefully help you better understand the context of what we are studying.
Wednesdays will be running a bit different this time around. I hope that as we go on we can start inviting other to join with us.
Here is my conviction, I am not satisfied. Every day I wake up exhausted from battling through the week in a meaningless pursuit of money, watching lame movies that never made it to theaters, and eating. It literally has made me bitter, un-filled, and over-all depressed. This life was meant for one thing, to glorify God in every aspect of our lives, and to reflect him so that others may come to know him. I pray that it is so evident in our lives, the joy that Jesus gives us, that others who also feel empty without him can see our full satisfaction in Jesus, and yearn to know him. That is why I want to see our group grow, with fresh people that want to know Christ. That should be our ultimate goal, bringing people to Christ. Our first step is knowing his word, TRULLY knowing Jesus. That is why we are beginning with the Gospels. I hope we all come hungry and leave thirsty for more. I have started this for easy use. This will just be for us. So instead of sending out an E-mail, you will just have to check on the blog for what we are studying and any study questions I might think up. That way through the week we can encourage each other and even provide your own questions too.
Hope you guys are having a good week and I will see you on Wednesday!
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