Paul
Jesus Lover Of My Soul
Our God
Kevin
New women’s men’s and small group’s leaders (Susan, Mike, Manoj)
Manoj
Small groups are awesome
Sending around a clipboard, seeing who’s interested in small groups and bible studies
Paul
One of the things I love is the genuine concern for one another we all have
Prayer for the world, for Japan and Libya
I hear the rain beating outside and it reminds me that we’re protected in a lot of way
If we just keep our hope and resources bottled up it will die
One Thing Remains
The Desert Song
Grace Like Rain + Our God tag (And If Our God Is For Us)
Stephen Keating
April 5th noon prayer meeting
Jon
Miles is the kind of person who sends links…every day
Photos of Japan
Had some music
James 1 is all about suffering
Practical things to think through
It’s what we do in the suffering that matters
A lot of times we like to pull individual numbered verses out of context
You can look at it afterwards
The Books Of The Bible
No one here is exempt from trials
Things that sweep the rug out from under you
Trials move you and push you towards wisdom or bitterness
These words of James take hold of my heart
What we’re going through is no less painful that what’s going on in Japan
James is writing to people who are suffering
It’s relevant for us as a people
Vanessa Hernandez is going to share in a couple of weeks
But I’m going to keep going with chapter 1 for a couple weeks
God has implanted perseverance in us when we were created
I don’t think James is a masochist
I think James is asking us to consider what God is writing in the story of our lives
We like drama because we can relate to it
Son of a sharecropper
Younger brother who was murdered in cold blood by a cop for speaking up
Urgent violence rose up in him
Family decided to go to California so that they could heal
He chooses love instead of hate
He considered it pure joy to move through a trial
Bitterness and anger swelled within him but he chose to forgive
He is one of the leading voices today because he chose the way of Jesus
John LET perseverance work in him
Instead of letting layers of hate form
Bought it and began to strip off the layers
Built in 1923
I was the author of perseverance on this chair
If I throw it away, it loses its beauty, its potential
It reminded me of how we throw people away
I believe people are the most precious gifts in the world
What if somebody purchased you on Craigslist?
In this place we value people
Our Father values you more than you can even imagine
We do not suffer alone, we suffer in community
James isn’t writing to individuals, he’s writing to the 12 tribes
You’re in The Rock tribe
I need you to speak to me when I can’t speak because there are layers on my heart
We need people to remind us that God is for us
I need to be reminded
I had to preserve this chair
I couldn’t give up on it
As I worked on it, I began to see the beauty
God’s not done with you
You ever call your parents and complain about other people
I was looking for my dad to come alongside of me and agree with me
Jon have you ever considered thanking God for those people in your life because they keep you sharp, on your toes, on your knees?
He didn’t coddle me and say, “Oh my precious Johnny with your hurt feelings”
Consider it pure joy my son
I love the line in verse 17-18
If He has put everything into us, is He ever going to just walk away from us?
You want something really incredible, have lunch with Manoj
It does something to my faith to hear my tribe singing the things I’m thinking
Sometimes I just want to listen instead of sing
Are there trials you are struggling with that you can consider pure joy?
What is the perfect gift?
People who donate their kidneys – that’s a perfect gift
Why do we assume that gifts are good?
Shannon struggled with cancer and chemotherapy and lost her hair and needed a wig
Wig was named Cheryl
Cheryl slept on a head on the floor and I swear she tripped me
Middle brother Nathan gave a perfect present to her
The story of the slightly odd present with a very long explanation
Already not in a really good mood
Calls me incompetent several times
I shouted back at him and slammed the door in his face
Sat down and thought that I need to do something
Knocked on his door and apologized
Oh, that’s ok.
He apologized for his behavior too
And then I read “slow to anger”
It was an opportunity for me
It would have severed the relationship further
God doesn’t throw things away, anger does
Sometimes the perfect gift shows up and you can’t recognize it
We are God’s people, His first fruits
If we are full we need to empty ourselves
God doesn’t just sprinkle wisdom on you POOF
He gives us situations that make us wise
Wisdom comes from a lot of listening and others
James is asking us to step into community
Don’t miss the perfect gifts that God is bringing your way
A wise person listens and says, “maybe I need to grow”
Paul
One thing I learned as a young single male was that you don’t get to pick who loves you
It’s incredible that someone would commit to us not just in the smooth places but in the rough places
One Thing Remains
Jon
1 Corinthians 13
heh- I just emailed you my version- it’s much smaller than yours… just thought we could collaborate