Hey guys hope things are going well with you. I have had the chance to touch base with most of you this week and have heard some good things and some tough things you are going through. Please be praying for the Gizzi's and the PO group as they switch to monday nights and try and meet more peoples schedules better. Be an encouragement to Mike as he is trying to provide community for the people in Port Orchard.
As our groups are getting bigger I want us to be thinking long-term and what the needs are going to be as more and more people are going to be seeking community in various geographic areas. That means be thinking now about the who, what, and where that could happen as your groups reach a point where replicating is a natural occurence. Keep me posted about potential leaders in your group and be thinking how you can give them opportunities to lead and grow up in that so that when the time comes we are having Timothys to send out to start new groups. Be encouraged in the now though about what is going on in groups, how people are finally beginning to feel safe in community, open up, etc.
This week a couple of thoughts struct me in studying Ecclesiates 9.
1. What is at the heart of vs. 1-6? Yes, death is the great equalizer, but it is only the great equalizer "under the sun". The thing we need to focus on is that "under the sun" is not our home. I think eternal perspective is shouting out at us from the pages of this book. But what does that really mean for us? Having an eternal perspective, and what does that mean for us as we live our lives "under the sun"? As Solomon puts it in vs. 10, we do have work to do now that we will not have when we are gone from this world nor will we have the chance when we are gone. What is this work he is talking about?
2. How are we then to live this life under the sun? I think we even need to be careful when we think about the question "will you (and God!) consider it to have been well spent or not? We really need to go back and read Ephesians 2:10 "we are his workmanship, created to do good works that he has prepared in advance for us to do". He is not saying do your best then when we meet, I am going to tally the score. He is saying I am leading you along the way, "you are my workmanship", understand that, and walk in that, period.
3. Vs. 9 "all the days of this meaningless life". Why is this life meaningless? What does he mean by that? (I think this would be a good conversation starter for your groups) Is it really meaningless? What then did Paul mean when we were created for some good work here? The statement is much deeper than the simple "this life is meaningless so I just need to stomach it until heaven". There is meaning in this life, but as Solomon has shown us time and time again, only in light of understanding and walking with the sovereign God of the universe is there meaning.
4. Think about the OT teaching on the afterlife and Solomon's perspective on that compared (read Systematic Theology for some help here) to the NT teaching on the afterlife. Do you thing the NT makes it easier for us to understand? (Good question to ponder for the group) How then should our eternal perspective be?
Monday, May 26, 2008
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Ecclesiastes 7
Hey guys here is some help and questions to guide us through the verses in ch. 7. Hopefully you can use some of this stuff to start some conversation. There should be one thing if not many, that people can relate to and have conversation about. Be thinking this week what sheperding your group looks like this week. Do you think about that? Remember we are trying to build community in our groups. Make sure you are getting your wives involved to help you out. Some suggestions:
1. You and your wife call people in your group this week and ask them how they are doing this week.
2. Have somebody from your group over to dinner this month and really get to know them and their story.
3. Rally the group to help someone in your group out this month at their house.
4. Pray and encourage each other
5. Make a list of birthdays and anniversarys for your group so you can celebrate and help them celebrate. i.e "Dude I see it is your anniversary this month. What is your plan? Can we take the kids overnight for you ? etc. etc.
Verse 1-
Just like it is better to have a lasting name that conjures images of wise character over fleeting and temporary pleasures, the day of our death is better than the day of our birth.
Psalms 90:12 “So teach us to number our days, That we may present to You a heart of wisdom.”
Q: How would you live, if you knew you were never going to die? No matter how much you sinned, no matter what you did to you body, you were not going to die. Do you think you would live different without the threat of death?
I think God was gracious in bringing death as a punishment so that we would seek life in Him. No matter how much money, we will die. No matter how much fame, we will die. No matter how many friends, we will die.
Facing eternity helps us to keep God as the center of our lives by testing to see whether we are more in love with this world than we are with God himself.
Philippians 1:21 “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.”
Paul says, ”to die is gain.” Do we believe that? Do we live in such a way that our lives look as if death is gain for us? Do we live in such a way that speaks of Christ?
Verse 2-
Wise people go to funerals and pay attention. Wise people know the days are few and each day they live is an opportunity to learn and to grow in wisdom and should invest in those things that are most profitable for them. For you and I this should be Christ.
Verse 3-4-
Fools want to laugh at everything. There are times that the wise person must go through times of sorrow and it is better than laughter.
Sorrow will bring to the surface the depth of the delight in God you possess. Sorrow will often produce repentance. But this sorrow should result in sustaining and lasting pleasure since not only do we find pleasure in seeing the glory and mercy of God in Christ, we find pleasure when we repent and sense God’s grace acting upon us to satisfy us, to purge us of pursing other things above Him, and to land us safely into the hands of our Savior. Repentance is sweet sorrow, so that the more of this sorrow we possess, the more pleasure in God that we attain.
Sometimes the only way to receive joy is to go through sorrow and pain. Sometimes the only way we can laugh is when we have come through a painful and sorrowful period of time.
2 Corinthians 7:10 “For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death.”
Verses 5-6 -
Fools not only stay away from the house of mourning, ignore death, don’t care about their reputation, but also pick friends that are just as foolish if not more so than they.
In the times of Solomon, when they would build a fire, if you placed thorn bushes under the pot, it would flame up quickly and with loud noise, but it would last and would burn out just as quickly as it flared up. So is the counsel of the fool. It is loud, quick, and has no lasting benefit.
If your friends aren’t wise enough to bring you biblical conviction, then perhaps you should examine why you choose to allow them the time attention you do when their counsel does not help.
Verse 7-
Frustration from outside pressure can eventually eat away at the wise man until he becomes mad.
The wisdom that will last for us and that will glorify God, is one that will not be ultimately moved through circumstance or outside pressure. A wise man quickly becomes a fool when he gives way to the hopeless despair of oppression and lives contrary to the wisdom he is given. The way we glorify God in this, is by trusting in Him alone for justice, not our fallen, finite selves, or our fallen judicial system. God is a God of grace, and a God of justice, and he will always be just.
Verse 8-
The end is better because in the beginning, nothing was done. The end of the matter gives a sense of completion, and for our life this shows us that when we start with Christ who is the author and perfector of our faith, we are to see our love for Him and life in Him through to the end of this life and into the next.
When God is neglected, the runner-up god takes his place, namely man. And that, by definition, is the opposite of humility, namely, the haughty spirit called pride.
Verse 9-
Q: What’s the difference between a wise person and a fool when it comes to anger?
It’s not a sin to be angry, but you shouldn’t sin in your anger, some anger is good. But if you are constantly angry for reasons that seem absolutely logical to you but to everyone around you are really silly, then this may be you.A wise person doesn’t easily get angry. They are quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to be angry.
Anger is the strong feeling of displeasure and hostility. I’m not talking about righteous anger. I’m speaking about the kind of anger that is a brawling, quarrelling anger that is unrighteous and ultimately distrusts God’s sovereignty.
Verse 10-
People that believe in the illusion of the past or future being better, are often unable to cope and live in the present. They are disappointed in a time that doesn’t exist. God is in control of history, not you and I. So when we attempt to live without submitting ourselves to that reality, we find ourselves frustrated and unable to find joy and satisfaction in the present day God has given us.
We have a tendency to romantically think about the past as if those former days were better than these. Only a fool thinks that, because only a fool forgets the trouble that was in every day then like there is in every day now. A wise person realizes that they have grown in wisdom over the years and each day is better because they have grown in their understanding of God and can deal with what they weren’t able to yesterday.
Verses 11-12-
We speak so much in our day about knowledge. Yet it is not the acquisition of facts or the ability to rattle off theorems which baffle most untrained minds. It is about the proper application of knowledge that becomes wisdom. What we don’t need is more information, what we need is transformation of our hearts so that we can use what knowledge we have and turn it into wisdom.
Proverbs 1:7 “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction.”
The greatest thing that can be said of Jesus’ knowledge is that he knows God perfectly. He knows God perfectly, because He is God. We know God partially and imperfectly. Jesus knows Him like no other being knows Him. No one but Jesus knows the Father completely, at all times, and perfectly. Our knowledge of the Father depends wholly on Jesus’ gracious revelation; our knowing is partial and because of our sin, imperfect.
Verse 13-
We need to be a people that shut our mouths, open our eyes and heart, get on our knees and consider God’s work. Who can thwart God’s hand when He has brought trouble? Who is the only one that can straighten what is bent? God. He is the one that makes things crooked so that in our frustration we cry out to help and throw up our hands and come humbly to Him and ask for His mercy to straighten things out.
Verse 14-
Both prosperity and poverty, sun and rain, happiness and adversity is brought by God who has made the one as well as the other so that man will see that he can’t tell the future and, in realizing he can’t fix life, in realizing that he can’t tell the future, God did all these things so that we turn to Him.
Verse 15-
Don’t have a Christianized Karma theology. In other words, adopt a view that only religious people live long and smooth lives, and only wicked people live short and painful lives.
Karma Christians talk constantly about how to avoid pain, how to avoid poverty, how to avoid suffering, how to avoid disappointment, how to avoid failure, and guess how you avoid it? By being perfectly righteous just like them!
Verse 16-
Solomon is not saying don’t be righteous and don’t be wise since he has already commended righteousness and wisdom in this book. What Solomon is saying, is to stay away from excessive righteousness that becomes about self and not God, and to stay away from an excessive wisdom that puffs up the individual instead of humbles them.
Religious fools are always self-righteous, and religious fools always know everything. They can’t help it because it’s not about the glory of God found in Christ, it’s about their glory found in themselves. We become the standard of goodness instead of Jesus, and we become the standard of wisdom and truth instead of Jesus.
Verse 17-
Don’t be wicked and hide behind stupidity. Don’t do things that you know are wrong and then say “is that wrong?”
Verse 18-
Don’t be so extreme in everything you do. Instead, fear God.
How many of you know someone that has been extreme all their life, and now they’re a Christian and guess what? They’re extreme! Solomon says that you should fear God and you will avoid extremes.
Why? Because someone who fears God walks very carefully and moves thoughtfully and prays deeply and reads widely and is careful not to go to extremes.
C.S. Lewis says “Heresy is truth taken too far.” Extreme people do extreme and unbiblical things.
Verse 19-
Don’t make power more important that wisdom.
Why do we believe in a plurality of elders? It’s because we always want to make the final decision and the only way to combat that is to have more than one elder that we are accountable to.
Verse 20-
Don’t act as if you don’t sin! A person who lacks true wisdom, is a person who never confesses sin, and does not see themselves as sinners.
Someone who is wise is careful to watch out for hypocrisy in their own life.
Verses 21-22-
People who are self-absorbed and obsessed with what other people think and say about them are almost always miserable people.
Solomon’s advice is to not take these things too seriously. His motivation is to remind you about your own sin.
Since you are guilty of speaking poorly of someone, don’t get your bent out of shape if someone speaks poorly of you. Someone that is truly wise, will consider the source of information that is negative, and not take it too seriously if it is only gossip.
Verses 23-25-
Don’t expect to know everything about God and life.
Isaiah 55:8-9 "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways," declares the LORD. 9 "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts.
The beauty of good Biblical theology is the realization that I will never know as much as the God who made me, and that is comforting. If you are truly wise, you will not try to fit God into your system.
We do not stand upon the bible and critique it, we are critiqued by it. We don’t put God under a microscope. We widen our lens and look through a telescope to see how magnificent He is.
Verse 26-
Don’t pursue and marry a woman who is unwise and ungodly.
A wise man realizes that his wisdom is proven by the woman he chooses. If he is wise in every other area of his life, but is foolish in that area, he will be captured and enslaved to her foolishness.
1. You and your wife call people in your group this week and ask them how they are doing this week.
2. Have somebody from your group over to dinner this month and really get to know them and their story.
3. Rally the group to help someone in your group out this month at their house.
4. Pray and encourage each other
5. Make a list of birthdays and anniversarys for your group so you can celebrate and help them celebrate. i.e "Dude I see it is your anniversary this month. What is your plan? Can we take the kids overnight for you ? etc. etc.
Verse 1-
Just like it is better to have a lasting name that conjures images of wise character over fleeting and temporary pleasures, the day of our death is better than the day of our birth.
Psalms 90:12 “So teach us to number our days, That we may present to You a heart of wisdom.”
Q: How would you live, if you knew you were never going to die? No matter how much you sinned, no matter what you did to you body, you were not going to die. Do you think you would live different without the threat of death?
I think God was gracious in bringing death as a punishment so that we would seek life in Him. No matter how much money, we will die. No matter how much fame, we will die. No matter how many friends, we will die.
Facing eternity helps us to keep God as the center of our lives by testing to see whether we are more in love with this world than we are with God himself.
Philippians 1:21 “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.”
Paul says, ”to die is gain.” Do we believe that? Do we live in such a way that our lives look as if death is gain for us? Do we live in such a way that speaks of Christ?
Verse 2-
Wise people go to funerals and pay attention. Wise people know the days are few and each day they live is an opportunity to learn and to grow in wisdom and should invest in those things that are most profitable for them. For you and I this should be Christ.
Verse 3-4-
Fools want to laugh at everything. There are times that the wise person must go through times of sorrow and it is better than laughter.
Sorrow will bring to the surface the depth of the delight in God you possess. Sorrow will often produce repentance. But this sorrow should result in sustaining and lasting pleasure since not only do we find pleasure in seeing the glory and mercy of God in Christ, we find pleasure when we repent and sense God’s grace acting upon us to satisfy us, to purge us of pursing other things above Him, and to land us safely into the hands of our Savior. Repentance is sweet sorrow, so that the more of this sorrow we possess, the more pleasure in God that we attain.
Sometimes the only way to receive joy is to go through sorrow and pain. Sometimes the only way we can laugh is when we have come through a painful and sorrowful period of time.
2 Corinthians 7:10 “For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death.”
Verses 5-6 -
Fools not only stay away from the house of mourning, ignore death, don’t care about their reputation, but also pick friends that are just as foolish if not more so than they.
In the times of Solomon, when they would build a fire, if you placed thorn bushes under the pot, it would flame up quickly and with loud noise, but it would last and would burn out just as quickly as it flared up. So is the counsel of the fool. It is loud, quick, and has no lasting benefit.
If your friends aren’t wise enough to bring you biblical conviction, then perhaps you should examine why you choose to allow them the time attention you do when their counsel does not help.
Verse 7-
Frustration from outside pressure can eventually eat away at the wise man until he becomes mad.
The wisdom that will last for us and that will glorify God, is one that will not be ultimately moved through circumstance or outside pressure. A wise man quickly becomes a fool when he gives way to the hopeless despair of oppression and lives contrary to the wisdom he is given. The way we glorify God in this, is by trusting in Him alone for justice, not our fallen, finite selves, or our fallen judicial system. God is a God of grace, and a God of justice, and he will always be just.
Verse 8-
The end is better because in the beginning, nothing was done. The end of the matter gives a sense of completion, and for our life this shows us that when we start with Christ who is the author and perfector of our faith, we are to see our love for Him and life in Him through to the end of this life and into the next.
When God is neglected, the runner-up god takes his place, namely man. And that, by definition, is the opposite of humility, namely, the haughty spirit called pride.
Verse 9-
Q: What’s the difference between a wise person and a fool when it comes to anger?
It’s not a sin to be angry, but you shouldn’t sin in your anger, some anger is good. But if you are constantly angry for reasons that seem absolutely logical to you but to everyone around you are really silly, then this may be you.A wise person doesn’t easily get angry. They are quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to be angry.
Anger is the strong feeling of displeasure and hostility. I’m not talking about righteous anger. I’m speaking about the kind of anger that is a brawling, quarrelling anger that is unrighteous and ultimately distrusts God’s sovereignty.
Verse 10-
People that believe in the illusion of the past or future being better, are often unable to cope and live in the present. They are disappointed in a time that doesn’t exist. God is in control of history, not you and I. So when we attempt to live without submitting ourselves to that reality, we find ourselves frustrated and unable to find joy and satisfaction in the present day God has given us.
We have a tendency to romantically think about the past as if those former days were better than these. Only a fool thinks that, because only a fool forgets the trouble that was in every day then like there is in every day now. A wise person realizes that they have grown in wisdom over the years and each day is better because they have grown in their understanding of God and can deal with what they weren’t able to yesterday.
Verses 11-12-
We speak so much in our day about knowledge. Yet it is not the acquisition of facts or the ability to rattle off theorems which baffle most untrained minds. It is about the proper application of knowledge that becomes wisdom. What we don’t need is more information, what we need is transformation of our hearts so that we can use what knowledge we have and turn it into wisdom.
Proverbs 1:7 “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction.”
The greatest thing that can be said of Jesus’ knowledge is that he knows God perfectly. He knows God perfectly, because He is God. We know God partially and imperfectly. Jesus knows Him like no other being knows Him. No one but Jesus knows the Father completely, at all times, and perfectly. Our knowledge of the Father depends wholly on Jesus’ gracious revelation; our knowing is partial and because of our sin, imperfect.
Verse 13-
We need to be a people that shut our mouths, open our eyes and heart, get on our knees and consider God’s work. Who can thwart God’s hand when He has brought trouble? Who is the only one that can straighten what is bent? God. He is the one that makes things crooked so that in our frustration we cry out to help and throw up our hands and come humbly to Him and ask for His mercy to straighten things out.
Verse 14-
Both prosperity and poverty, sun and rain, happiness and adversity is brought by God who has made the one as well as the other so that man will see that he can’t tell the future and, in realizing he can’t fix life, in realizing that he can’t tell the future, God did all these things so that we turn to Him.
Verse 15-
Don’t have a Christianized Karma theology. In other words, adopt a view that only religious people live long and smooth lives, and only wicked people live short and painful lives.
Karma Christians talk constantly about how to avoid pain, how to avoid poverty, how to avoid suffering, how to avoid disappointment, how to avoid failure, and guess how you avoid it? By being perfectly righteous just like them!
Verse 16-
Solomon is not saying don’t be righteous and don’t be wise since he has already commended righteousness and wisdom in this book. What Solomon is saying, is to stay away from excessive righteousness that becomes about self and not God, and to stay away from an excessive wisdom that puffs up the individual instead of humbles them.
Religious fools are always self-righteous, and religious fools always know everything. They can’t help it because it’s not about the glory of God found in Christ, it’s about their glory found in themselves. We become the standard of goodness instead of Jesus, and we become the standard of wisdom and truth instead of Jesus.
Verse 17-
Don’t be wicked and hide behind stupidity. Don’t do things that you know are wrong and then say “is that wrong?”
Verse 18-
Don’t be so extreme in everything you do. Instead, fear God.
How many of you know someone that has been extreme all their life, and now they’re a Christian and guess what? They’re extreme! Solomon says that you should fear God and you will avoid extremes.
Why? Because someone who fears God walks very carefully and moves thoughtfully and prays deeply and reads widely and is careful not to go to extremes.
C.S. Lewis says “Heresy is truth taken too far.” Extreme people do extreme and unbiblical things.
Verse 19-
Don’t make power more important that wisdom.
Why do we believe in a plurality of elders? It’s because we always want to make the final decision and the only way to combat that is to have more than one elder that we are accountable to.
Verse 20-
Don’t act as if you don’t sin! A person who lacks true wisdom, is a person who never confesses sin, and does not see themselves as sinners.
Someone who is wise is careful to watch out for hypocrisy in their own life.
Verses 21-22-
People who are self-absorbed and obsessed with what other people think and say about them are almost always miserable people.
Solomon’s advice is to not take these things too seriously. His motivation is to remind you about your own sin.
Since you are guilty of speaking poorly of someone, don’t get your bent out of shape if someone speaks poorly of you. Someone that is truly wise, will consider the source of information that is negative, and not take it too seriously if it is only gossip.
Verses 23-25-
Don’t expect to know everything about God and life.
Isaiah 55:8-9 "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways," declares the LORD. 9 "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts.
The beauty of good Biblical theology is the realization that I will never know as much as the God who made me, and that is comforting. If you are truly wise, you will not try to fit God into your system.
We do not stand upon the bible and critique it, we are critiqued by it. We don’t put God under a microscope. We widen our lens and look through a telescope to see how magnificent He is.
Verse 26-
Don’t pursue and marry a woman who is unwise and ungodly.
A wise man realizes that his wisdom is proven by the woman he chooses. If he is wise in every other area of his life, but is foolish in that area, he will be captured and enslaved to her foolishness.
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Ecclesiastes 6: 1-12
Hey guys I know this isn't in time for many of you, but I wanted to get this out for those of you who could use it and also encourage you to take sometime and study for yourselves. Please be thinking how you can lead your groups into a true understanding of what Solomon is trying to teach us. He is not saying that life is meaningless, he is saying that life apart from an understanding of God's sovereignty and providence is meaningless. Do you see the difference? Please take some time now to really dig into chapter 7. I don't think the sermon will be breaking down verse by verse, but I encourage you to do just that. I will try and send some stuff out from my studies this week that will be helpful for you and your groups. Think about using this blog for what it is called-a forum. We need your insights, questions, struggles, praises, needs so we can encourage and be encouraged.
Thanks, Eric
Ecclesiastes 6: 1-12
Thanks, Eric
Ecclesiastes 6: 1-12
Vs. 2 –
Do we assume that material goods, things, or good events are blessings and the lack of things or adversity are not blessings?
What did we learn from James 1? How can we count it all joy?
We see in vs. 2 that God causes the man to have riches and causes the man not to enjoy those riches. How do we process that passage?
What is our understanding of God’s sovereignty and providence? Is it just His providence when the thing is perceived as good or could His providence also be done through something perceived as evil?
How is a biblical understanding of God’s providence put Solomon’s words in Ecclesiates in perspective?
Vs. 3-6 –
How do we define the word “satisfied”? How does the text break down our ideas of satisfaction? What examples does it use? (family, long-life)
Vs. 10-11 –
We cannot argue with God. If we argue with God what is that speaking of our understanding of His sovereignty and providence? Some of us don’t like God being sovereign because we think we have a better solution. But the fact is, God has already called out what is and disputing that is futility.
The more we talk about these issues with an attitude of doubt or dissatisfaction, the more futility increases.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Ecclesiastes 4: 4-16 -What Keeps us from having Community?
As we continue to try and define and foster community on a larger scale as a church and on a smaller scale in our groups, I thought it was fitting to look at the teaching we get from Ecclesiastes 4:4-16 on the subject of community. The text breaks it down for us pointing out what things cause a breakdown in community and then finishes with showing us the benefits or need for community. I have broken down the verses for you. Share them with your groups or use them to hopefully generate some discussion on the topic. Hopefully we all see the need and the power of biblical community in our groups and in the church. I think it is our job as leaders to model and teach it. When it comes down to it, true community is the practical expression of the gospel. Just think what light and power true community could have in our people's and communities lives.
What gets in the way of community?
Verse 4 – Envy and Jealousy
How does envy and jealousy get in the way of community? If we are constantly jealous of those who have we can fill our time working to get the money to keep up or even worse we can choose to not want to be in community with people because we are jealous of them.
Verse 5 – Laziness
How does laziness hamper community? Community takes work and being with people. You have to get off the couch, make an effort, invite people over, etc.
Verse 6 – Discontentment
The text is telling us to have balance in our work. To make sure we balance work with Sabbath. How many of us on the weekends take time to sit and rest or hang out with others to rest, encourage, and talk about what God is doing in our lives?
Verse 7-8 – Greed and Over-work
We all want more money, but you have to work more to get more, but why? To buy more things? To impress people we don’t like. True community is based on being in relationship with people who know your story. Then grace happens and we can experience love for who we are not for our stuff. If friendships take time and to you time is money you are in for a long road of loneliness.
Verse 13 – 16 – Blaming others for our isolation and sin
What happens is people become unhappy with their predicament in life and instead of owning up to it themselves, they seek to blame others.
We also go looking for that new person, with new ideas, who will help us get out of the predicament. But what happens eventually? Eventually we will be confronted again with our stuff and then what? We will start blaming the new guy for our issues. We still find out that problems that are internal can not be taken care of by someone else. We need to understand that the problem is sin and the problem lies in our heart not in the faults of others.
What are the benefits of community?
Verse 9 – Effectiveness
Two are better than one. Community and relationships brings out the best in us. We were created to be in relationship.
Verse 10 – Help
Self-explanatory but do we think about our community as being our help? Do we make every opportunity within our means to meet a need if we see it?
Verse 11 – Companionship
We are to keep each other “warm”. We all have a deep-longing for companionship and to be known.
Verse 12 – Protection
We are to watch out for each other, to look out for each other. Do we see this as our responsibility for the members in our group?
What gets in the way of community?
Verse 4 – Envy and Jealousy
How does envy and jealousy get in the way of community? If we are constantly jealous of those who have we can fill our time working to get the money to keep up or even worse we can choose to not want to be in community with people because we are jealous of them.
Verse 5 – Laziness
How does laziness hamper community? Community takes work and being with people. You have to get off the couch, make an effort, invite people over, etc.
Verse 6 – Discontentment
The text is telling us to have balance in our work. To make sure we balance work with Sabbath. How many of us on the weekends take time to sit and rest or hang out with others to rest, encourage, and talk about what God is doing in our lives?
Verse 7-8 – Greed and Over-work
We all want more money, but you have to work more to get more, but why? To buy more things? To impress people we don’t like. True community is based on being in relationship with people who know your story. Then grace happens and we can experience love for who we are not for our stuff. If friendships take time and to you time is money you are in for a long road of loneliness.
Verse 13 – 16 – Blaming others for our isolation and sin
What happens is people become unhappy with their predicament in life and instead of owning up to it themselves, they seek to blame others.
We also go looking for that new person, with new ideas, who will help us get out of the predicament. But what happens eventually? Eventually we will be confronted again with our stuff and then what? We will start blaming the new guy for our issues. We still find out that problems that are internal can not be taken care of by someone else. We need to understand that the problem is sin and the problem lies in our heart not in the faults of others.
What are the benefits of community?
Verse 9 – Effectiveness
Two are better than one. Community and relationships brings out the best in us. We were created to be in relationship.
Verse 10 – Help
Self-explanatory but do we think about our community as being our help? Do we make every opportunity within our means to meet a need if we see it?
Verse 11 – Companionship
We are to keep each other “warm”. We all have a deep-longing for companionship and to be known.
Verse 12 – Protection
We are to watch out for each other, to look out for each other. Do we see this as our responsibility for the members in our group?
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Welcome Back
I thought it was time to dust the blog off and give it another shot. I am trying to find the best methods of communicating and I think with a little help this forum might be a good tool for us. So please give it a shot once a week and let me know if I am slacking in the support.
With that being said, I decided to forgoe the monthly leaders meeting this month in lieu of meeting with you as families over dinner. We have been able to hang with the Goodman's and the Stitt's so far and are trying to get the rest of you on the calendar. The premise of the meetings is to see how you guys are doing, I also have another bag of coffee for you, and find out how I can encourage you in your role as group leaders. So the question goes something like this, "What does encouragement look like to you as a community group leader?" and the second question is "How do you feel apart of the greater work of our local body, Seaside?". I think we need to let each other know what encouragement looks like so we can actually encourage each other. If you need prayer for something, if you need study aids, if you need a weekly check-up that is how I want to spend my time. I figure if I can encourage the community group leaders and families then they can encourage and shepherd the people in their group, then their people can lead and encourage their families and neighbors. Are you seeing the math work here? The second part is that I want to encourage you with seeing how you and your family are feeling connected to the greater work here at Seaside. Our groups are little communities, but we are trying to bring everyone together into the bigger community, the local church and in doing so bring everyone together to the even bigger community, the body of Christ. Be thinking this week how you are feeling connected, how you are expressing that connectedness to the people in your group, and then think about what is keeping you from feeling connected.
Lastly, the vision for the groups is that they would be a place where dialog is happening, community is happening, and most importantly where people are being known, supported, and encouraged to live the christian life. That being said, as community starts to happen and dialog starts to happen, let's remember to see yourself as the shepherd of the people in your group. So as time goes on, try and see yourself as less of a discussion facilitator and more of a pastor to the people. Get to know the people in your group and be an encourager to them. Rally the group around being about the community in your group and then the community outside your doors. That being said, I am going to encourage you to start to try and delegate the facilitator role as you see fit. If our goal is to build people up, then we need to give people the opportunity to study and lead the group in discussion. This practice will help everyone be a much better pastor of our own families that we are all called to be. Obviously, know your group and use wisdom and coaching where needed.
Thanks again for doing what you are doing. I know we all live lives that are full of a lot but know that fruit is coming from these groups and I see them as a pillar of our core values at Seaside: Family, community, training, and God. We hit them all in community groups right?
I am also interested in how your groups have been processing Ecclesiastes. What a great story of the secular and christian/biblical worldview colliding. I am thankful that Solomon has done so much of the work for me so I don't have to waste my time experiencing the heartache. Last week we asked the simple question how are your processing Ecclesiastes. A simple question, but is generated a lot of conversation. One thing to be careful with is make sure you are looking at the verses carefully in context of what he is trying to say. He is contrasting everything in light of Ch. 12 where he basically says that apart from God it will be like I have described it. I point this out because someone could easily misread the text and choose one of the verses as their life verse: 2:24 A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. Now in context he is talking about the man without God, the unrighteous man, but taken out of context can you see where people could take it? Just a heads up.
Eric
With that being said, I decided to forgoe the monthly leaders meeting this month in lieu of meeting with you as families over dinner. We have been able to hang with the Goodman's and the Stitt's so far and are trying to get the rest of you on the calendar. The premise of the meetings is to see how you guys are doing, I also have another bag of coffee for you, and find out how I can encourage you in your role as group leaders. So the question goes something like this, "What does encouragement look like to you as a community group leader?" and the second question is "How do you feel apart of the greater work of our local body, Seaside?". I think we need to let each other know what encouragement looks like so we can actually encourage each other. If you need prayer for something, if you need study aids, if you need a weekly check-up that is how I want to spend my time. I figure if I can encourage the community group leaders and families then they can encourage and shepherd the people in their group, then their people can lead and encourage their families and neighbors. Are you seeing the math work here? The second part is that I want to encourage you with seeing how you and your family are feeling connected to the greater work here at Seaside. Our groups are little communities, but we are trying to bring everyone together into the bigger community, the local church and in doing so bring everyone together to the even bigger community, the body of Christ. Be thinking this week how you are feeling connected, how you are expressing that connectedness to the people in your group, and then think about what is keeping you from feeling connected.
Lastly, the vision for the groups is that they would be a place where dialog is happening, community is happening, and most importantly where people are being known, supported, and encouraged to live the christian life. That being said, as community starts to happen and dialog starts to happen, let's remember to see yourself as the shepherd of the people in your group. So as time goes on, try and see yourself as less of a discussion facilitator and more of a pastor to the people. Get to know the people in your group and be an encourager to them. Rally the group around being about the community in your group and then the community outside your doors. That being said, I am going to encourage you to start to try and delegate the facilitator role as you see fit. If our goal is to build people up, then we need to give people the opportunity to study and lead the group in discussion. This practice will help everyone be a much better pastor of our own families that we are all called to be. Obviously, know your group and use wisdom and coaching where needed.
Thanks again for doing what you are doing. I know we all live lives that are full of a lot but know that fruit is coming from these groups and I see them as a pillar of our core values at Seaside: Family, community, training, and God. We hit them all in community groups right?
I am also interested in how your groups have been processing Ecclesiastes. What a great story of the secular and christian/biblical worldview colliding. I am thankful that Solomon has done so much of the work for me so I don't have to waste my time experiencing the heartache. Last week we asked the simple question how are your processing Ecclesiastes. A simple question, but is generated a lot of conversation. One thing to be careful with is make sure you are looking at the verses carefully in context of what he is trying to say. He is contrasting everything in light of Ch. 12 where he basically says that apart from God it will be like I have described it. I point this out because someone could easily misread the text and choose one of the verses as their life verse: 2:24 A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. Now in context he is talking about the man without God, the unrighteous man, but taken out of context can you see where people could take it? Just a heads up.
Eric
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Leader's Meeting Saturday 4:30pm
Just a reminder about the Community Group Leaders Meeting this Saturday at Schuette's House at 4:30pm. We are going with the potluck theme so be creative and bring something for all to share.
Things to bring in addition to food and drink:
1. A couple of examples about things that have worked to get people involved in the discussion
2. Needs that would help your group function better
3. Anything else you can think of.
The hope is that these things would not only be worthwhile from an encouragement/fellowship standpoint but also from a training standpoint. But we will see what we can do with kids and families running around.
Hope your groups have been going well. I have had the opportunity to talk to some of you recently so to the others let me know how I can support you. Also try and give a heads up for Mike Gizzi and Hutch Goodman who have gone out to start new groups in recent weeks.
E
Things to bring in addition to food and drink:
1. A couple of examples about things that have worked to get people involved in the discussion
2. Needs that would help your group function better
3. Anything else you can think of.
The hope is that these things would not only be worthwhile from an encouragement/fellowship standpoint but also from a training standpoint. But we will see what we can do with kids and families running around.
Hope your groups have been going well. I have had the opportunity to talk to some of you recently so to the others let me know how I can support you. Also try and give a heads up for Mike Gizzi and Hutch Goodman who have gone out to start new groups in recent weeks.
E
Monday, February 4, 2008
James 3 and other info
A couple of information messages first:
1. We are starting 2 new CG's starting the week of Feb 11th. Monday nights at The Goodman's and Sunday Evenings in Port Orchard at the Gizzi's. Help me spread the word to people on Sunday or in other conversations about the opportunities here to join these groups and experience community.
2. Community Group Leader Meeting, Feb. 23rd 4:30 pm till ??? at my house in Silverdale. Kids are welcome. Be thinking about what would be helpful during these times. Fellowship, Training (if so what kinds), Encouragement, Vision of Community Groups, etc. etc.
3. Question to ponder: We had a person who was a little thrown off by the message about being in the culture but not of the culture. Basically, is it bad to just listen to Christian music, have Christian friends, and go to Christian school if that is what is going to encourage you and help you with your personal holiness. I think we have a quick answer to this but these are the type of questions that will arise based on the wide-array of people God has brought into our body. How do we lead this person in answering this? Do we just give them the 5-minute disertation or do we ask them questions so they can be involved in the process. Do we pose the question for everyone to process? Give me your thoughts.
4. Great stuff to think about from James 3, this week. Please submit a question or two that you are planning to use to help spur on conversation in your group this week.
1. We are starting 2 new CG's starting the week of Feb 11th. Monday nights at The Goodman's and Sunday Evenings in Port Orchard at the Gizzi's. Help me spread the word to people on Sunday or in other conversations about the opportunities here to join these groups and experience community.
2. Community Group Leader Meeting, Feb. 23rd 4:30 pm till ??? at my house in Silverdale. Kids are welcome. Be thinking about what would be helpful during these times. Fellowship, Training (if so what kinds), Encouragement, Vision of Community Groups, etc. etc.
3. Question to ponder: We had a person who was a little thrown off by the message about being in the culture but not of the culture. Basically, is it bad to just listen to Christian music, have Christian friends, and go to Christian school if that is what is going to encourage you and help you with your personal holiness. I think we have a quick answer to this but these are the type of questions that will arise based on the wide-array of people God has brought into our body. How do we lead this person in answering this? Do we just give them the 5-minute disertation or do we ask them questions so they can be involved in the process. Do we pose the question for everyone to process? Give me your thoughts.
4. Great stuff to think about from James 3, this week. Please submit a question or two that you are planning to use to help spur on conversation in your group this week.
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