Reflections: August 25-26, 2007

This week's "Reflection" by Gary Keith, Pastor of Teaching/Worship This weekend we had the opportunity to look closely at what the Bible has to say about the intimate love of a man and a woman. I know with my study I learned much about how to keep the romance alive in a marriage. May I encourage you to do a couple of things and then let me know how it goes?
First, if you are married would you take the time to review the vows you made at your wedding and then ask yourself how you’re doing. If you talk with your spouse about this let me know what kind of difference this has made in your marriage. How did this experience of talking about your vows change your marriage?
Second, if you are single let me know what you thought about the caution I gave about who to give your heart to. This was the part about the lover’s name and the importance of the character of a person. What have you experienced in this area of your life? How have you determined the character of a person you are attracted to?
Thirdly, if you are currently experiencing a hard time in your marriage, did anything from this study encourage or help you? I’d love to hear from you this week.
God Bless as you live out the word of God this week.

Reflections: August 18-19, 2007

This week's "Reflection" by Matt Sasso, Pastor of Jr. High Ministries

The goal of this week was to see the book of Psalms as more than just music and poetry as we went behind the music. Layered in the book of Psalms is some heartfelt prayers that could richly develop our prayer lives as we pursue a life of reaching up.
We spent some time looking at how we might develop our communication with God by exploring Thanksgiving, Penitential, and Enthronement psalms. We learned how we might give thanks to God for answered prayers as well as being thankful in the midst of unanswered prayers. We looked at what it means to pray a penitential prayer how God will pour his grace into our lives. We also looked at how a prayer of enthronement places God above all things and the importance of keeping Christ at the center of our lives in the midst of life’s good and bad seasons.
I encourage you to read Psalm 30, 51, and 96 again this week. After doing so, I want to challenge you to respond by writing down some reflections and prayers. We would love to hear your story of how God is developing your prayer life. God Bless!

Reflections: August 11-12, 2007

This week's "Reflection" by Fuz Rana

This week, as part of our continuing trek through the Old Testament, we focused on the Psalms. One of the goals of the sermon was to encourage us make better use of the Psalms to enrich our time of individual worship and deepen our relationship with God. Do you use the Psalms in your devotional time? If so, how? If not, what keeps you from incorporating the Psalms into your quiet time?

We also spent a fair amount of time exploring some of the most salient features of Hebrew poetry and touched on some of the things to keep in mind when interpreting the Psalms. Do you think that this type of analysis helps you get more out of the Psalms? Does it get in the way of using the Psalms to worship God?

We also looked at two types of Psalms: Hymns (or Psalms of Praise) and Laments. We worked our way through Psalm 136—a Psalm of Praise—and Psalms 22, 42, 69, and 137—all Laments—as examples. Psalms 99, 103, and 104 are other examples of Hymns. Choose one of the Hymns and one of the Laments and identify the sense units, the types of parallelism, and language devices used by the Psalmists. What insights did you gain from reflecting and praying through the Psalms you analyzed?

Psalm 136 teaches us that God is to be praised for His work as Creator and Redeemer. What connection is there between God as Creator and God as Redeemer? In what way does this theme appear in John 1:1-18?

One of the features of Laments is an imprecation (a curse or calling down harm on someone) on the Psalmist’s enemies. Does this trouble you? How does this square with Jesus’ command to love and pray for your enemies (Matthew 5:44)?

Reflections: August 4-5, 2007

This week's "Reflection" by Jeff Taylor, Pastor of Teaching/Youth

As you consider the life of David and the choices that he made in regards to putting God on the throne of his heart, what are some practical ways that you put God on the throne of your heart? What does that look like in your life? How would you encourage others to do the same? This is an opportunity for all of us to grow through the encouragement of those around us, so please share your life lessons with us.