This Music Monday venture has turned into an every other week sort of situation, so I hope that’s okay with you, dear blog visitor. If not, do something about it!
Anywho, this week we’re going Old School; a youtube playlist from the Golden Age of Gospel. Enjoy!
Sorry to post this so late, but better late than never, right?
So, two weeks ago we discussed the popular Old Testament story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, cast into a fiery Babylonian furnace by King Nebuchadnezzar because they refused to bow to his golden idol.
We discussed the world in which they were living, how the Hebrew people had been brought into captivity once again after a succession of ineffective, corrupt kings. But while in captivity, certain bright, promising young men were allowed into the king’s court for training and instruction to be future leaders, including our three heroes of the faith and Daniel.
We discussed the reasons Nebuchadnezzar would have been so upset with them, how their faith showed through adversity (see Daniel 3:18, refusing to bow even in the face of certain death). We discussed ways to develop faith like that (through reading the word, prayer, surrounding ourselves with others who are strong in their faith, etc).
Ryan made an interesting point about the fact that the command was to bow down to the golden idol at the sound of the music and the way so much of popular music today essentially has people worshipping idols, essentially bowing down.
We also talked about the fact that their faith and ultimate deliverance so impressed the king that he declares “there is no other God who can deliver like this” and talked about instances where our faith may have shown through to others in a similar way or when we were delivered from our own “fiery furnaces”.
One thing we didn’t discuss though was this question: Why did Nebuchadnezzar build the idol and demand everyone to bow and worship in the first place? What does he gain by that?
Thanks to everyone who came out and we hope to see you all tomorrow night!
I have two projects I should have been working on today, but instead I decided to make this:
Don’t forget, we’re having a movie night and potluck tonight. Bring some food if you can, and settle in for a good time of hanging out.
The movie on tap is 2008’s Henry Poole is Here, starring Luke Wilson.
And if you just can’t wait til tonight, or you can’t make it and don’t want to be left out, you can watch it on Hulu:
http://www.hulu.com/watch/514347
Hey all,
So I was praying Monday night and God told me to bring this to everybody’s attention: I feel that our group is under attack. The devil doesn’t want us to be happy and together, he wants to create mistrust and division from within our group.
We (me included) need to be more forgiving, more encouraging, more unconditional, and less judgmental of each other. The big one is unconditional. None of us are perfect and we need to accept that and lift each other up in a positive way.
We all just need to be more mindful of the devil’s attacks on us as a group, not only as a bible study group but as a group of friends. I want to apologize to any of you that I’ve hurt or offended (or annoyed). I love you guys and I think we need to pray for our ministry.
Love, Jeff.
P.s. congrats Mike and Ebony! So excited for you guys, God bless you and keep you!
Here’s the video from the session Pastor McGensy taught on Tuesday night about marriage.
If you would like a DVD of this lesson, let me know and I will get one to you.
And if you know someone who could benefit from seeing this video who may have missed it or isn’t a part of our group, share it!
Jeff did a great job teaching the lesson Tuesday night about the powerful life of Joseph, as told in Genesis 37 and 39-45.
The thing that hit me as I was thinking about the lesson again last night was the brutality of the brothers, especially this passage from verses 24 and 25 of chapter 37: “Then they took him and cast him into a pit. And the pit was empty; there was no water in it. And they sat down to eat a meal…” They hated their brother so much that they were willing to consider killing him or leaving him for dead in a pit, and ultimately ended up selling him into captivity. In our last lesson, we discussed these SAME brothers rising up in anger and avenging the honor of their sister, Dinah. They could be very protective but they could also be very cruel. People can be so complex; I think that’s one of the key lessons we’ve learned as we’ve gone through Genesis. We all have a capacity to do good and obey God, but we also have the capacity to be wicked and disobedient (an in the case of the brothers cruel and violent). As the poet Walt Whitman famously wrote:
Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)
But we see over and over again, the blessings of sticking with God and the troubles that arise as a result of turning away from him.
Finally, consider this: Joseph was sent by his father to see about his brothers, but his brethren hated him because he said he would rule over them. He was sold out for some silver and sent to Egypt. They assumed he’d be dead and gone, “…then we’ll see what comes of his dreams.” But they ultimately found themselves bowing down to him when the time of famine came. And instead of returning their cruelty toward him with cruelty of his own, he instead he loves them and extends mercy and invites them to live with him in the abundance of the palace.
Does that sound kinda sorta maybe like anyone else you might have heard of?
This was the last session in our study on Genesis and a great way to go out. Anybody have thoughts/comments to share about anything we read/learned/discussed from the creation to Adam and Eve to Cain and Abel to Noah and the flood, to the Tower of Babel, to Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob, Esau, Dinah, and Joseph?
I’m just constantly amazed at how recognizable so much of the behavior and attitudes are from thousands of years ago thousands of miles away to our lives today.
Well my one cool thing was seeing God’s Not Dead with the group. The movie really inspired me and made me rethink my attitude towards atheists and people who are “on the fence” about God. The movie wasn’t perfect and some of the characters made me so mad (home boy’s girlfriend was trippin!), but it was inspirational none the less. And of course fellowshiping with the group is always fun and uplifting. Love you guys, see you at the next session.
GOD’S NOT DEAD!
We had a great discussion last night about the way traits and tendencies get passed through the generations, and importantly, ways we can move beyond negative inheritances to create and own our identities as children of God.
One thing we didn’t get to come back around to last night was that even though we saw all of the deception in the generations of Abraham, he ultimately remained faithful to God and God kept his promise to number his descendants like the stars in the heavens or the sand on the beach. Genesis 15:6 says of Abraham, “And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.” To this day, he is considered the father of the faith for Christians, Jews, and Muslims. Even Jacob, who was mostly portrayed in a negative light, ends up having his name changed to Israel and his 12 sons would become known as the 12 tribes of Israel and the nation as we know it today is named after him. Many other great men of the bible came through their generations as well, including David, Solomon, and this guy named Jesus.
Scripture references from last night:
College & Career Ministry 