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Food for Thought

For the week of December 20, 2009
(Questions and Scriptures for further study)

1. This weekend Pastor Larry reminded us that God showed up in the middle of a “dark” time that very first Christmas.  As you reflect on the message, what teaching or insight was the most helpful to you in better understanding how God works in our lives and our world?

Have you ever seen God intervene in the midst of a very dark, difficult or painful season of your life?

How might Joshua 1:7-9 help us understand our role and God’s promises to us in tough times?
 
Joshua 1:7-9
    Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. [8] Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. [9] Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go." _^[NIV] 

2.  Pastor Chris took us on a journey through the book of 1 Corinthians as he painted a picture of a man changed when Jesus showed up in Corinth.  Go back and read some of the exact words he would have heard and ask yourself, “How does this teaching impact me?”
 
1 Corinthians 2:9-16
    However, as it is written:

    "No eye has seen,
        no ear has heard,
    no mind has conceived
        what God has prepared for those who love him"--
 
[10] but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit.
    The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. [11] For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. [12] We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. [13] This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. [14] The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. [15] The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man's judgment:
 
    [16] "For who has known the mind of the Lord
        that he may instruct him?"
 
But we have the mind of Christ. _^[NIV] 

1 Corinthians 6:19-20
    Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; [20] you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body. _^[NIV] 

1 Corinthians 8:9
    Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak. _^[NIV] 

1 Corinthians 9:24-27
    Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. [25] Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. [26] Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. [27] No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize. _^[NIV] 

1 Corinthians 10:23-24
    "Everything is permissible"--but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissible"--but not everything is constructive. [24] Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others. _^[NIV] 

1 Corinthians 13:4-7
    Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. [5] It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. [6] Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. [7] It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. _^[NIV] 

1 Corinthians 15:55-58
    "Where, O death, is your victory?
        Where, O death, is your sting?"
 
[56] The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. [57] But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
    [58] Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. _^[NIV] 

3.  As the events of that first Christmas unfolded, we are told that “Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.” (Luke 2:19)  In order to see God’s work in our lives, we too need to take time to “ponder” God’s plan and movement in our life.  Find a few minutes to get away by yourself to reread the Christmas story (Luke 2:1-20) and ask God to help you see His fingerprints in the days and weeks to come.