Elijah vs. the 450 Prophets of Baal

The story of Elijah told in 1Kings 18 is one of my favorite Bible passages. I would have loved to have been there to see the prophets of Baal trying in vain to get a wisp of smoke near their altar, and then to see the soaking wet wood set ablaze in an instant after Elijah prayed to God asking Him to send fire. It must have been quite a scene.

I was so happy to see that even though it is a two day school week with Thanksgiving at hand, that we had seventeen in attendance this morning. We had a very good discussion with lots of people participating. If you would like to see the notes I was presenting the story from they may be seen here.

Questions for further discussion:

1. In what ways is it hard to be a Christian today?
2. Do we ever feel outnumbered by those who oppose God?
3. What is our response when we feel overwhelmed?
4. What are the positive things we can point to about how our nation and world are responding to God's message.
5. What is our hope for the future?

Have a great Thanksgiving!!!

2 Samuel

We had a great discussion this morning centered around the character of David. What an amazing man!! Like all of us he had his ups and downs, but he knew at the end where his salvation came from.
The study notes can be seen here.

It was a great to see a new face or two among the eighteen students present, and it was also a treat to be joined this morning by the FOCUS area director, Tim Foster.

Dinner table questions:

What is the most valuable thing in your life?
Are everyone's values the same?
How do we get our values?
Do our values ever change?

Have a great week...a few people have already asked this question so I will answer it here...we will be meeting next Tuesday November 25th. See you on Tuesday!!

A Fresh Look at David and Goliath

What a great day!!! This morning saw a few new faces which is always a wonderful thing. I hope they come back next Tuesday. We had a total of nineteen students which is a new all time high. The study focused on the story of David and Goliath which is told in the book under study this week, 1 Samuel. To see the notes that I wrote for the study click here. If you want to have a follow up conversation at dinner there are lots of questions to choose from:

In what ways was David the underdog in his fight with Goliath?

In what ways was David the favorite in the fight?

Do we ever discount our own chances for success?

Why?

What are the Goliaths in our life?

How can we hope to prevail against them?

Everyone Needs a Ruth in Their Life

The study today went well. There was lots of good discussion and a new student...always a great thing. The lesson can be seen here. We had a total of fifteen which means that next week will be seventeen or eighteen if our cycle holds. At some point we may need to consider having a second day of the week that we meet son that we have room for more students. It would make sense to have the second day on a Friday since squash season is nearly upon us and squash meets on Tues. Wed. and Thurs. Please email me your thoughts if you want to weigh in on this.

Thoughts for the dinner table:

Who is the Ruth in your life? Who can you count on to stick with you?

Who are you a Ruth for? Who can count on you?

If you do not have a Ruth how can you find one?