Another Great Costume Party!

Thanks to the Jake and Sara for hosting all the fun. Awesome costumes, yummy food and lots of laughs - what a great group of friends!

Our "Mad Teacher - I Mean Scientist!"

What's On Your Mind?

Happy May!

(It's almost summer!!)

April 26 - Lesson Recap

Thanks to Paul and Pam Highfield for visiting and telling us about their work with the Mausi people of Kenya. When they began their work this group of Mausi had never heard of Jesus. Paul and Pam learned the language, formed relationships with the people, and introduced them to Christ. They planted churches and began training leaders. Paul now writes Bible studies and commentaries in the Mausi language to help these churches study and grow strong spiritually. They travel back to Kenya twice a year to minister to the churches and people personally. During these visits they lead studies, help with evangelism and work to meet physical needs as well. We're excited to be going to meet the Mausi people and to worship with them. We know they have much to teach us. We hope we can help minister to them as well. Please keep us in your prayers!

April 19 - Lesson Recap

1 John 3:17 - 24 "If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need..."

Our response to others in need can either reflect God's love in our heart - or not. This is why it is good to do a "heart check-up" regularly by asking yourself questions like: Do I feel pity and have compassion when I see others in need? Do I share in others' burdens? Do I see having the ability to give as a privilege? Do I ask for wisdom in how to give responsibly? Do I find joy in giving?

vs 23 "And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us." Have a great week loving each other!

April 12 - Lesson Recap

1 John 3:16 "This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers."

Ultimately Christ laid down his life for us when he took on our sins and died for us. But this was only after he had laid down his life each day for us. His willingness to share burdens and battle evil daily could only be accomplished through his right relationship with God. He then righted our relationship with God! Wow! We can now live like he did! Through our right relationship with God we can share burdens and battle evil, too! And we can be victorious! Afterall, He did rise again!! Hope you had a wonderful Easter weekend!

April 5 - Lesson Recap

1 John 2:18-27; 1 John 4:1-6 False Prophets and Antichrists This is not a problem specific only to the time when John wrote this letter. Jesus warned us about false prophets, Jeremiah talked about false prophets in the OT and we still have false prophets today. Sometimes they are easy to spot but often they are "ferocious wolves in sheep's clothing." Sometimes they can even have Christian origins. So how do we defend ourselves?

John points out three defenses against false prophets. First - Anointing; vs. 3:20, 24 & 4:4 assures us that we have the Holy Spirit living in us, His word planted in us, and that the One that is in us is greater than the one who is in the world! WooHoo! Second - Tests; 4:1-6 says we can test the spirits, using our eyes and ears and minds to see if what they are saying and doing matches up with what we know. And Third - Each Other; v. 4:6, Hebrews 3:12-13 tells us that by listening to wise leaders and by encouraging one another daily we can keep each other from being hardened by sin's deceitfulness.

Have you been on the look out for false teachings this week? They are definitely out there disguised as spiritual truths and wisdom. Feel free to share some of your experiences in the comments sections.

March 29 - Lesson Recap

1 John 3:4-10 Sin, What Does 1st John Say About It? - This week we were reminded that one of John's stated purposes for writing this letter was so that the believer would not sin (2:1). We then looked at what John had already written about sin. His early verses stressed a contrast between sin and righteousness and how Christ is our atonement for our sins.

In chapter 3, John continued his discussion contrasting sin and righteousness with very strong words about sinfulness. He does give us encouragement, however, when he says that, because we are born of God and have God's seed in our lives, sin should not prevail. We can even reach a point where it is more of our nature not to sin than to sin.

Next week we are going to look at John's warning about false prophets. I John 2: 18-27 and I John 4:16

March 22 - Lesson Recap

1 John 2:28-3:3 Children of God - "How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!" It is rare to find two exclamatory sentences in a row in the Bible but it certainly makes sense here. Imagine how John might have said these sentences. This is exactly what we need to remember when we are striving to walk in the Light, and to not love the world. We could easily lose hope at our failures but John says "..what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him...Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure."

March 15 - Lesson Recap

1 John 2:15-17 Do Not Love the World - or anything in the world! How are we to live out these verses? It is critical to continually check our heart, attitudes, and priorities. We must remember that sinful cravings, lust, and boasting come from the world and it will all pass away. "...but the man who does the will of God lives forever."

March 8 - Lesson Recap

1 John 2: 1-11 Walking in the Light - sounds nice but in this passage we are reminded that simply saying we are "in the Light" is not enough. If we are truly walking in the Light there will be evidence, things we do and things we do not do. Verse 6 sums it up, "Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did." How did Jesus walk? How do we walk like He did? That was the topic of much of our discussion today.

March 1 - Lesson Recap

I John - Chapter 1 Today we started our study of 1st John. This letter was written by the apostle John who was, as some people describe, in the inner circle. John is writing this to believers, so it exciting and challenging because it is written to us. In our opening lesson we set the groundwork noticing the verses that describe the setting, verses that contain christian truths, and verses that challenge us to respond and change.

John is a credible writer because he was with Christ. John sets a contrast between light and darkness (righteousness and sin). He states that we are not without sin but most importantly he reminds us about the sacrifice of Christ that purifies us from all sin. Lastly, we looked at how we can have sweet fellowship with Christ and one another as we walk in the light.

February 15 - Lesson Recap

It's All About Them!

February 8 Lesson Recap

It's All About Us! -

February 1 Lesson Recap

It's All About You! -

January 25 Lesson Recap

It's All About Me! - Improving my marriage begins with me and my relationship with God. When we establish and maintain a growing relationship with God we can go to Him with our spiritual needs like acceptance, unconditional love, joy, peace ... Our spouses can not meet these needs and our marriages are drained when we try.

Girls' Study Blog Ready to Go!

A new blog has been set up for the girls study. Just hit the link and check it out!

The Web Forum is up and running!!!

The web forum is now up @ http://myymclass.nxserve.net/forum/index.php for the men to gather and discuss the book we're reading through.  Within the next few minutes the guys should all receive an email with their username and password to log onto the forum.   Once you've logged in, you should be able to view other comments and post your own inside the discussion topic.

Hopefully everyone's able to logon and get involved with the discussion, but if you're not please don't hesitate to call or email me.

-Thanks

Paul

Sidenote:  For some reason the site that's hosting the forum seems to be down at times during the day.  If you're trying to load the page and it doesn't work, you might wait 30 minutes or so and try again.  I'm really sorry about that, I'll probably look into getting a different host if it continues.

New Format Coming This Sunday Only!

This Sunday, January 11, our class will be splitting up! (Sounds like a great way to begin a study on improving our marriages, doesn't it?) The guys will be meeting at an undisclosed location somewhere in the church while the girls will meet in our regular room. All this is happening so that we can begin the discussion on how we can become the husbands and wives God intended us to be.

Guys - Jeff has a book he is very excited to introduce to you. In the forward of The Christian Husband, it states "...this book is not a fluffy, Bible-lite approach; you're about to receive the biblical job description for being a husband...If you've ever wondered as a man what it means practically to love your wife, then you've found it...If you've been puzzled by how you can practically be the spiritual leader of your wife, look no further..." After a short introduction on Sunday. those of you who are interested can form a small group to study this topic more in depth.

Girls - I (Cheryl) have been looking for a book that would completement the guys study while meeting our needs and I think I may have found one. The book, Capture His Heart; Becoming the Godly Wife Your Husband Desires, explores eight ways to develop as Christian wives including: supporting your husband spiritually; encouraging him emotionally; appreciating him vocationally; engaging him intellectually; connecting with him relationally; affirming him physically; and standing by him permantly. I am still reading through the book myself, but so far it is really good. If you have any other books you think would make a good study - bring them Sunday! We'll talk about what some of our needs are and form one (or more than one) study group of our own!

See you Sunday!