The Acceptance

We are given choices throughout life.  God established His creation with that same foundational element: choice.  This week we will be talking about "The Acceptance" of what God says is true.  The opportunity is offered to us by God to accept or reject - what will we do?

Here are the questions for this week's break out discussion:

• What is the greatest lie ever told?
• The Apostle Paul states in Romans 7:15 (NIV) "I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do." How does this relate to your life and your decisions to believe what God says is true?
• Kathleen Casey Theisen is quoted as saying, "Acceptance is not submission; it is acknowledgement of the facts of a situation. Then deciding what you're going to do about it." Describe when this has applied to you and what you did in response.
• After reading 1 Timothy 4:1-10, describe what "godless myths" and "old wives’ tales" played into your belief system which took you places that God had no intentions of you going.
• "Why would anyone believe a lie? Because the truth often demands painful transformations that most people are unwilling to make.", (citation: Dennis Allan). What painful transformations or adjustments have you had to make to align to God's truth?
• 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12 speaks of a "lawless one", or "man of lawlessness" being revealed and ends where "God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie". What to do you think this is talking about? How do you think this will be manifested?

"To thine own self be true"
- Hamlet Act 1, scene 3, 78–82

The Impediment

Though we may not consider this often, we are faced with "The Impediment" in our walk with God.  It is manifested in several ways and we'll be touching on a couple this week in our time together.

Here are the questions for this week's break out discussion:

• Samuel Johnson, the essayist and dictionary-maker of the eighteenth century, said: "Truth, sir, is a cow; which, when sceptics have found it will give them no more milk, they have gone off to milk the bull." What is this saying to you?
• Read John 18:28-40. Discuss what is happening here.
• Steve Turner wrote, "I believe that there is no absolute truth excepting the truth that there is no absolute truth." Is there such a thing as "absolute truth"? Explain your answer.
• In John 14:5-6, Jesus states, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me." What are some different streams of thinking on this concept? What do you believe?
• How does what we believe effect the decisions we make?
• There is thinking out there on the topic "either/or" vs. "both/and" … for example, “Is God a blessing God or a judging God?” Is this thinking that you've been exposed to before? How do you see this working in your life? 

"God hath given you one face, and you make yourselves another."

- Hamlet Act 3, scene 1

The Challenge

This week we'll be continuing forward with a look at "The Challenge" aspect of our study.  We will begin to understand our decision when faced with believing what God is saying versus what we see, touch, taste, hear, and smell which seems to be contradictory.

Here are the questions for this week's break out discussion:

• Read Psalm 37:3-7. What does it mean to you to "trust", "delight", "commit", and "be still"?
• In verse 4 the term "delight" is enlarged in the Amplified Bible as "desires and secret petitions of your heart". How does your thinking change in response to this?
• Earlier in our studies on this topic, we talked about Occam's Razor, which is attributed to the 14th-century English logician, theologian and Franciscan friar Father William of Ockham. Ockham stated: "No plurality [fact or majority] should be assumed unless it can be proved (a) by reason, or (b) by experience, or (c) by some infallible authority [for example: sacred scripture]." In Ockham's view, an explanation which does not harmonize with reason, experience or the aforementioned sources cannot be considered valid. Give an example out of scripture where "reason" or "experience" were over-ridden by the Word of God.
• Where, in your life, have you relied upon the Word of God even though it may have gone against "reason" or "experience"?
• Read James 1:5-8 in a variety of translations. What is this portion of the Bible saying?
• Though this reference opens in the context of asking for wisdom, is the principle limited to that topic? Explain your thinking.
• It has been written: "Divine revelation is something which is not created by our own efforts, by our putting together thoughts conceived of using understandings based on what we've known and experienced until now. Divine revelation comes at God's initiative, not ours." Describe a life situation where you saw, heard or felt something in a particular moment that no one else seemed to experience in the same way you did.

"Nay, if our wits run the wild-goose chase, I am done"
- Romeo And Juliet Act 2, scene 4, 67–73

The Proposal (Part 2)

We're going to continue on the same topic this week as we delve deeper into The Proposal.  God has so created things that He chooses to partner with us.  In this partnership, there are responsibilities that each party has.  We'll be building more on the Ephesians 3:20 concept introduced earlier.  Here is a picture of the concept.

Here are the questions we'll be using for our break out discussion:

• How does your life align to each of these two statements: "What do you believe?" and "Do what you believe."
• How do you respond when you experience people “doing what they believe” and it’s something you can’t align with? Why?
• Mark 11:24 (NLT) states: "I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you’ve received it, it will be yours." Describe how this scripture falls in context of the Mark 11:12-26.
• 1 Corinthians 13:7 (NIV) talks about the concept of "[love] always trusts". What does this mean to you? How have you see this dynamic in your life?
• After reading James 2:19, how do you explain the difference between the intellectual acknowledgement of God and to believe God?
• Matthew 18:18-20 (NIV) talks, in part, about how two can agree on anything and ask for it, that it will be done. What are the conditions? Who are the parties? Do the conditions or “who” the two people are matter? Why?
• Talk about some "what if" examples where you've experienced this. Also, give some examples of where you are expectant of this happening.
• God's supply to you is partly described in Philippians 4:19. What does this mean to you in your daily living for Him?

"Whereof what's past is prologue; what to come, In yours and my discharge."
- The Tempest Act 2, scene 1, 245–254