Dear Friends,
The old saying “The Lord Moves in Mysterious Ways,” has always been true. This is hard for us. We want to figure all things out. We want to figure God out. We are uncomfortable with mystery. We to want certainty, comprehension, and clarity. It has been the great temptation of Christians to reduce God to a formula or a dogma. To turn theology into rationalism and the supernatural to reductionism.
Basic “beliefs,” such as the trinity or the other Ideas about God defy our reason and can only be embraced by faith. Yet we push against this and often dispute over the unknowable in this world.
God presents Himself as He is and says believe.
Ecclesiastics 3:11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men, yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.
This is so true and clear in the life of Christ.
Mystery is something anyone who wants to follow Christ must learn to accept and believe.
This Sunday we will see how this plays out in the story of Christ and the early church.
Please make this your first Sunday of 2020 a chance to wonder at the amazing grace and mystery of God in Christ.
Blessings,
Joe
STEPS TO PREPARE
PRAY FOR THE SERVICES AND FOR YOURSELF
AND ME AND THE OTHER TEACHERS.
PRAYERFULLY READ THE SCRIPTURES
AND CONSIDER THE DISCUSSION QUESTIONS.
MAKE PLANS TO ATTEND A PREACHING SERVICE AND A SMALL GROUP.
INVITE SOMEONE TO COME WITH YOU.
PREPARING FOR SUNDAY: SMALL GROUP QUESTIONS
Preparing for Sunday-January 5, 2020-HIS-Story Luke
Please read and prayerfully consider the following scriptures and questions.
Romans 11:33 Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!
What has believing that Jesus was fully God and fully human cause so much conflict and confusion among Christians?
Luke 2:52 And Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.
Luke 2:46-47 Then, after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. 47 And all who heard Him were amazed at His understanding and His answers.
Why do many find mystery so uncomfortable?
Ecclesiastics 3:11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men, yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.
Romans 11:33 Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!
Colossians 1:26 that is, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but has now been manifested to His saints, 27 To whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
How do we live with mystery and faith at the same time?
1 Timothy 3:16 By common confession, great is the mystery of godliness: He who was revealed in the flesh, was vindicated in the Spirit, Seen by angels, Proclaimed among the nations, Believed on in the world, Taken up in glory.
Describe an experience or truth you can’t fully explain but you believe.
Isaiah 55:8 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD. 9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts.
How do you balance certainty with the humility of wonder?
