Bible Study - Class meets on Thursday from 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM CST.

[LadyLionness]

Hi, everyone... let's start out with an opening prayer first... any volunteers?

I need another volunteer for the closing prayer too as I have a meeting at 1:00 PM, so will be leaving at 12:55.

[BoyRescue]

What are some ideas or suggestions do you folks have in determining if you are in a "good" church?

Every plant that produces good fruits is in good soil. 

A good church is a church that produces fruits of the Spirit.

Galatians 5:22-23, 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

A great example of it is when the church launched in the book of Acts 2:43-47.

43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

[LadyLionness]

OK, looks like everyone is interested in the Sower Parable... I will let you guys discuss that while I go and pick out some other gems...

[yajmafia]

Father God,

Thank you for this wonderful day you have provided us with.  Thank you for this cold weather.  Thank you for the snow.  As we go on with our lives, we open our eyes bigger and bigger everyday because it is about you.  Its about what you've done.  And the ultimate sacrifice you've given us.  As we begin our daily studies of your word, let us use what we learn and apply it to our lives as we become more like you.  Open our hearts and open our ears, in your son Jesus Christs' name,

Amen.

[LadyLionness]

Father God,

Thank you for this wonderful day you have provided us with.  Thank you for this cold weather.  Thank you for the snow.  As we go on with our lives, we open our eyes bigger and bigger everyday because it is about you.  Its about what you've done.  And the ultimate sacrifice you've given us.  As we begin our daily studies of your word, let us use what we learn and apply it to our lives as we become more like you.  Open our hearts and open our ears, in your son Jesus Christs' name,

Amen.

thx...

[LadyLionness]

From the Leadership Bible:

The Principle of the Seed - Mark 4:2-20

Who is the sower in Jesus' parable?  The sower is a person of influence, a leader, anyone who declares God's Word.  The sower scatters a lot of seed, and only later determines the character of the soil.  Note a few principles all leaders need to know about sowing seed:

1.  A lot of seed must be scattered to produce a crop.

2.  Not all soils produce, but we cannot reap if we do not sow.

3.  We must continue sowing, because one day we will reap a harvest.

4.  The soil that produces will multiply; we will reap more than we sow.

5.  We will reap in proportion to what we have sown.

6.  We cannot do anything about last year's harvest, but we can about this year's.

7.  We must believe in the seed we sow, knowing that some will produce fruit. 

8.  Once we see fruit, all our effort seems worthwhile.

[BoyRescue]

Here's the Parable of the Sower:

Mark 4:1-20

1 Again Jesus began to teach by the lake. The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake, while all the people were along the shore at the water’s edge. 2 He taught them many things by parables, and in his teaching said: 3 “Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, some multiplying thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times.”

 9 Then Jesus said, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”

 10 When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables. 11 He told them, “The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables 12 so that,

   “‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving,
   and ever hearing but never understanding;
otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!’[a]”

 13 Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable? 14 The farmer sows the word. 15 Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. 16 Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. 17 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. 18 Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; 19 but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. 20 Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown.”

[cali_lady]

From the Leadership Bible:

The Principle of the Seed - Mark 4:2-20

Who is the sower in Jesus' parable?  The sower is a person of influence, a leader, anyone who declares God's Word.  The sower scatters a lot of seed, and only later determines the character of the soil.  Note a few principles all leaders need to know about sowing seed:

1.  A lot of seed must be scattered to produce a crop.

2.  Not all soils produce, but we cannot reap if we do not sow.

3.  We must continue sowing, because one day we will reap a harvest.

4.  The soil that produces will multiply; we will reap more than we sow.

5.  We will reap in proportion to what we have sown.

6.  We cannot do anything about last year's harvest, but we can about this year's.

7.  We must believe in the seed we sow, knowing that some will produce fruit. 

8.  Once we see fruit, all our effort seems worthwhile.

side comment/thought xwb....kind of like a farmer =jesus and our hurdles are the weeds that grows along the way...right?

[LadyLionness]

From the Max Lucado Devotional Bible:

Mark 4:1-41

Mark related not only the power of Jesus in stories but also his authority over creation in his command of the weather at sea.

Even in the middle of a dangerous sea, when Jesus patiently calmed the storm, he showed the fearful disciples that he truly cared for them.  Sometimes even those close to Jesus were slow to realize how much he loved them.  

"God, don't you care?"

Such an honest cry, a doggedly painful cry.  I've asked that one before, haven't you?  It's been screamed countless times...

A mother weeps over a stillborn child.  A husband is torn from his wife by a tragic accident.  The tears of an eight-year-old fall on a daddy's casket.  And the question wails.

"God, don't you care?"  "Why me?"  "Why my friend?"  "Why my business?"  " Don't you care?"

It's the timeless question.  the question asked by literally every person that has stalked this globe.  There has never been a president, a worker, or a businessman who hasn't asked it.  there has never been a soul who hasn't wrestled with this aching question.  Does my God care?  Or is my pain God's great goof?

As the winds howled and the sea raged, the impatient and frightened disciples scaremed their feaer at the sleeping Jesus.  "Teacher, don't you care that we are about to die?"  he could have kept on sleeping.  He could have told them to shut up.  He could  have impatiently jumped up and angrily dismissed the storm.  He could have pointed out their immaturity... But he didn't.

With all the patience that only one who cares can have, he answered the question.  He hushed the storm so the shivering disciples wouldn't miss his response.  Jesus answered once and for all the aching dilemma of man ' "where is God when I hurt?"

Listening and healing.

That's where he is.  He cares.  

[LadyLionness]

side comment/thought xwb....kind of like a farmer =jesus and our hurdles are the weeds that grows along the way...right?

Yes...

Jesus (if we read the Bible) and our pastors or anyone else teaching the WORD of God is the farmer.  We would all want to be the good soil that hears it, holds it in, grow and multiply.  However, sometimes we also need to look around us and see if there's any weed near us... any rocky spot... and do our best to clear those out so that we can slowly move from a rocky field to a wonderful and nourishing farmland... this was beautifully demonstrated in the new movie War Horse.

[LadyLionness]

Application:

What stories of Jesus' love and ministry or power can you share with others?  Consider the impact of stores that have taught you.  Dare yourself to discover the ways God shows he cares for you in the storms of your life.

[LadyLionness]

Meeting is postponed, so I will share a couple of stories...

Calming the storm... (I have shared this story a couple of times already, so I am sure that a few of you have seen it.)

We were living in Springfield, MO at the time... an hour drive from Joplin, MO... so it's definitely tornado alley.


Our house at the time only had a walk-out basement - not a real basement.  Anyway, it was the second week in a row that a tornado touched down somewhere within an hour drive radius.  The week before, a trial home was carried off, dropped into a field a mile away from it's original location.  The only reason the person survive was that somehow, he got squashed between the mattress and the floor.

Anyway, that night, all the stores, fast food, most places closed early and sent everyone home.  It was about 11 pm and all the boys were asleep already.  The sky was beautiful...

<will finish the story later...>

Time's up.... will be back to tell more stories through out the week.  You guys come back and share too.

[LadyLionness]

Could someone lead us in the closing prayer?

[cali_lady]

Could someone lead us in the closing prayer?

i'm not good but i'll try..


Father god,

As we prepare to conclude this meeting,
We once again lift up our hearts to You,
The divine source of all Life.
We thank you for providing us w/ today’s fellowship,
As You have blessed our coming together,
Now bless our departure and journeys homeward.
May Your blessing be upon us,
In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Amen.

[LadyLionness]

i'm not good but i'll try

Thank you Cali_Lady ... the more you practice, the easier it will become.

Thank you to Yajmafia for doing the opening prayer and for all the contributors.  

Please feel free to come back and share any stories, insight, or questions you have about Chapters 1 through 4.  We will be discussing these 4 chapters from now until next Wednesday.  

Thursday - January 19th, we will be discussing Mark 5 through 8.  See you all then.  Same place, same time... and perhaps more and more people...