Case Dismissed

This Sunday we’ll be resuming our study in Job – we’ll be covering an abridged version of chapters 22-27 – but you can read the chapters in their entirety HERE.

This section finishes the three cycles of dialogue between Job and his friends, and contains the climax of those cycles. The main thrust of this section will center on the idea of righteousness for righteousness’ sake, not for reward or benefit. That’s a compelling concept, one we might mentally assent to, but on further introspection, may find difficult to realize fully in our own motivations.

It will be an interesting and challenging study – hope you can join us online at 10 AM, on Facebook as a live event and on our Youtube channel. Hope you are enduring in His grace during these days – I pray for you always.

Defying the Darkness

We have been experiencing an unprecedented time of global crisis. It feels like we get pressed by bad news on every side, and that begins to take a toll on us mentally and emotionally. If there’s one thing the resurrection of Jesus speaks to us, it is of a profound hope which springs right out of the darkness.

After our live event Sunrise Service, we’ll have our regular 10 AM service online as well – we’ll take a short break from Job, and we’ll reflect on the encouragement we can receive from John’s account of the resurrection. Resurrection challenges us to defy the encroaching darkness, and find the ability to overcome through the Risen Christ.

I hope you can join us, Sunday 10 AM, on Facebook Live as well as YouTube.

Be at peace, you Children of God!

Sunrise Service Live Event – 4/12 at 6:15 AM

This Sunday Morning we’ll be hosting a Sunrise Service as a live event on Facebook at 6:15 AM. If you’d like to join us – you can download a PDF of the prayers and follow along from home. We’re looking forward to when we can all gather at the beach again – but until that time, we’ll rejoice in what the promise of RESURRECTION means to us all!

Sunrise Service prayers for Mobile device: sunrise service 2020 MOBILE DEVICE

Sunrise Service prayers for print: Easter Sunday handouts 2020

 

Prayers for Good Saturday

On the Saturday before Easter, we as a fellowship have participated in praying together, even if we’re apart, for many years now. We provide written prayers for morning, midday and evening time prayer and contemplation. This is to prepare our hearts for Easter. We hope you’ll join us in praying these together in unity. The prayers in in PDF format and can be found here: Good Saturday Prayers 2020

 

Wrong Answers to Wrong Questions

As you surely know, we will be doing online only services this Sunday – and while I know it’s Palm Sunday, as often happens with us in teaching through a book of the Bible, we won’t be doing a Palm Sunday service but rather we’ll continue our study in Job.  I still think it is quite apropos for our situation.

We’ll be reading from chapters 15-21 – an abridged version, though you can listen to the chapters read in their entirety in the audio file above.

We’ll also be doing a Q&A after the teaching, so please post your questions during the service and we’ll discuss them at the end.

What do you notice about Job’s attitude toward God as this second cycle of dialogue plays out? What is happening to his perception of God? How might our own religious assumptions and attitudes lead us to similar perceptions of God? Those are things to ponder in this section.

Tune in on Facebook or Youtube this Sunday at 10 am. Hope to see you online!

Job Wants a Lawyer

Hey Everyone – I’m trusting that you’re all hunkered down, staying safe and keeping others safe. This Sunday our meeting will be online only – you can watch on Facebook or Youtube. We’ll be continuing our study in Job, reading chapters 8-14. We’ll be reading an abridged version of all those chapters, but again, the audio file is above and you can listen to the text in it’s entirety there.

We’re also going to do a Q&A session about Job right after the teaching – so as you listen, post any questions you have about the text or it’s application and we’ll discuss it. I really enjoyed that last week, hope you did too!

Hope to see you online – pray for one another – pray for our world, nation, state, county and community. Pray for the healthcare workers and those seeking a vaccine, that God will give the wisdom we need to overcome this threat. Pray for our leaders on every level. Pray for peace and comfort for those who are distressed. Pray for the Good News to have opportunity to be shared.

A Dried up Brook of Advice

Another crazy week has passed, a lot of disconcerting things have developed, including the closing of our beaches, which I know has a cascading impact on so many people.  In times of distress, we remember that God is still God and the One we look to in times of trouble. Take heart, in His love, there is hope for you. As always, we will keep our eyes and hearts open for ways we can lighten the burden for one another.

This week, our services will be ONLINE ONLY, but you can watch on our YouTube channel or on our Facebook page or in our Facebook Group –  or just click the link on our website  – tune in at 10 am CST.

We’ll continue our very relevant study in the book of Job – and you may be surprisingly comforted by what we discover as we explore those pages. We’ll be covering a lot of ground, ch 4-7 – which I will only read an abridged version of on Sunday morning, so listen to the audio reading of those chapters in their entirety above.

I’m also hoping to do an extended Q&A about Job after the teaching – so if you have any questions about the book, it’s genre, the characters…anything, leave them in the comment section below and we can discuss them on Sunday.

Keep your eyes fixed on the God who loves you – allow His grace to settle all fear and uncertainty – be still, and know He is God.

Job 3 – The Breaking Point

https://wonderwhat.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/job-3.mp3Job really seems like an appropriate study lately, given the global concerns about CONVID-19. We are still weighing out our options about our normal 10 am meeting tomorrow, but we will be broadcasting live on YouTube and Facebook. We’ll address our next steps, but it seems likely that we’ll move to online only for the next few weeks after that. The leadership at Eastgate is in discussion about this – We’ll keep you posted.

This Sunday we’ll be reading Job 3  – this is where Job reaches his breaking point. Again, we have an audio reading of that chapter above. These audio versions will become important as we move along, because we’ll be covering multiple chapters at one sitting and we won’t have the time to read the entire passage during the study.

As you read Job 3, what do you think about his state of mind? While he curses his birthday, he doesn’t seem to be suicidal in that he shows no inclination to take his life into his own hands – but he certainly seems to appreciate non-existence to what he’s experiencing. How do you find solace in times when life provides no relief from suffering? Where can you find meaning in times of pain and suffering?

We’re going to consider Job’s view of an afterlife in this study…his view raises some powerful questions for us as New Testament readers.

I’m looking forward to this section – it should prove to be a deeply thought-provoking study.

Job – an Introduction

This week we will begin a new study in the book of Job. How often have you suffered, or known someone who is suffering and the question that forms most readily is “why?”. Why is this happening? Why God? If there is a common issue that unifies those who can’t believe in God, it’s the issue of cruelty and suffering. How could a good and all powerful God allow so much suffering in the world?

That’s been a question through the ages. It’s really the thematic center of the book of Job.

And yet…Job gives us no real answers. As John Walton puts it in his commentary, Job simply provides us with better questions to ask in the midst of suffering.

This Sunday we’ll be looking at the structure and nature of the book, as well as reading the first two chapters. I’m going to do something different with this study – here on Wonderwhat I’m going to post an audio reading of the chapters we’ll cover – that way, if we don’t end up reading the whole passage on Sundays, you can listen to the whole thing read at your leisure. The audio file is at the top of the post.

Read the first two chapters – or listen to the audio above.

What are your honest thoughts about the set-up to this story? Do you read it as a history, or as a parable? What are some of your experiences with suffering – what questions have you asked during those times? What do you think the significance of the scene in heaven brings to this story?

I hope we’ll have an interesting study on this fascinating book!

Engaging a Secular Culture (Without Being a Jerk)

This Sunday we’ll be continuing our short series which considers practical ways in which we can fulfill what the angel told the women at the empty tomb; “Go and tell” this good news. We’re going to look at another example from the book of Acts, one I’ve taught on before, but which bears repeating. We’ll be reading Acts 17:16-29.

In this famous teaching, Paul is summoned to the Areopagus, or Mars Hill, where the city council would meet. In this setting, Paul related the gospel to a completely uninitiated people. His approach to their culture gives us a fascinating insight as to how far Paul would go with his ideology of being all things to all people (1 Cor 9:22).

Read through Paul’s address. How would you characterize his words? Was he scolding? It says he was grieved by the idolatry he saw – but how did he start his address and what did he point to in his message to use as a platform for the gospel?

In v28 Paul quotes a line from a hymn of praise to Zeus, by the pagan poet Epimenides. He didn’t do that to validate a worship of Zeus, but as a support for his claim about the One, Creator God. How might we learn to do that sort of thing in the culture where we find ourselves?

How can we learn from Paul’s interaction with culture to engage our world without condemning it? Hopefully our consideration of this on Sunday will foster some new ideas for us as we follow Jesus who’s loose in the world! Hope to see you then!