Eclipse

work day

Come hang out with us the Wed - Aug 1st from 2pm until Bible Study starts.  We will be "cleaning" and setting up the youth room to get ready for the Fall.  I will even buy you pizza for dinner - who loves ya!!See you there and wear some clothes that you would mind getting messy - you never know what ideas we will come up with

praying for the heart of God

Last week on Wed night we prayed through several passages on how we should view people – especially the poor.  The Bible warns us that money can blind us, which is a big deal when you realize that we live in the richest country in the history of the World!

To see more clearly, check out some of these passages and pray that God would help you to live and love the way he wants you to:

·        1 John 3:16-18

·        1 Timothy 6:17-19

·        2 Corinthians 8:13-15

·        James 2:14-18

a deeper bible study

As we talked about at the beginning of the summer, we want to have a time of "deeper" study for those who are interested.  This comes out of a conversation I had with Mike Gorden in May.  We are going to try to meet for our first one (some two months later) at my home this Thursday, July 19 at 11:30am.  Bring your own lunch and Bible and we will hang out for a little while.  My address is 1033 N. Stratford in Wichita, 67206 (Near the intersection of Rock and Central).  Here is a map.  By the way, someone mentioned that lunch time was not good for most people, if that is true let me know a better time for you.  I would love to change the day or time if that meant more people could be involved. Post a comment if you have any suggestions.

saying sorry

What do you do when you have blown it?  How do you go to someone and make things right again?  That is what we covered this week at our tables.  We talked about the difference between repentance (taking action to change) and just feeling guilty for getting caught.  Then we looked at places in our hearts were sin often settles that we need to deal with (our words, desires, actions).  And we ended by looking at how to ask someone to forgive you. For a summary on the "Seven A's of Confession" go to the peacemaker website by clicking this link.  On top of all that I tried to communicate that God wants us to take full advantage of the conflict in our lives by letting conflict reveal parts of our heart that God wants to change so we can be more like Christ.  I hope it is starting to make sense that most of my conflict reveals some kind of sin that I need to turn away from.  The exceptions would obviously be situations of abuse or neglect – you are not to blame if something like that is going on, but we would love to help you if we can.  If you need to talk just give me a call or email and if you want to talk about something with the rest of the group just make a post. 

it starts in the heart

As we keep talking about how to resolve conflict and deal with trouble in relationships, it is key that we realize most conflict begins with our hearts.  The fact is, things that I desire often turn into idols that I worship.  The problem comes when I get upset if someone tries to keep me from getting what I want.  That was the point of today.  I know we ran out of time, but you should have heard the challenge to examine your own heart.  As you look inside, you are looking for things that have become bigger than they should as they move from a desire to a demand to judging someone who doesn't give you what you want to ultimately punishing them.  James 4:1-3 says most of our issues with each other come when someone gets in our way of getting what we want.  Take some time to look inside and see if you can name the things in your life that have become idols.  Then you will be ready to take action next week when we talk about how to tear those idols down.

a week since camp

We have been home for 7 days now from high school camp, and I hope things have not worn off yet.  God taught and showed us a ton of things about how to love people and live for him.  It was amazing to be in a beautiful location for camp and then leave to go serve those who are broken.  I was encouraged that this morning in Sunday school the highlights shared were about caring for the poor rather than the entertainment or rec activities.  Those things were great (I loved the wave runner), but they pale in comparison to serving and helping to build the kingdom of God.  What was your favorite part, and what do you feel like our group needs to remember as we move forward?  If you have a favorite pic, email it to me and I'll post it.