Review from October 3

Hey all,

Hope you had a wonderful weekend and that this week is starting out to be a great one too.  Here is the scoop on Sunday morning if you missed it.
We continued our discussion on friendship and how to be a good friend, the way that God wants us to be.  This week, we talked about what to do if someone is weird.  The world tells us at every turn to like people that are like us and to stay away from people who are different.  But God tells us to love others, and not to judge them.  He loves each one of us the way that we are.  Our challenge this week is to show love, kindness and respect to people, even if we think they are weird.  Here is the recap of our discussion

First, we read James 2.1-9
This passage instructs us not to judge people by their richness, and not to give preference to people that seem better off.  We are reminded that God chose the poor to inherit the the Kingdom and the rich will oppress.  Paying special attention to the rich is a sin.  We ask, based on this passage, if it is ever ok to discriminate against anyone?

Next we read Romans 16.17-18
Here, the apostle Paul tells us that anyone who causes divisions should be avoided.  Is it ok to avoid people that are teaching weird things about Jesus?

Read Matthew 7.1-5
These verses tell us to be careful in judging others.  In fact, don't do it at all.  We have so much going on in our own lives that need to change are be cleaned up, we have no place in pointing out other's faults.  It is a great image, having a log in our own eye, and trying to help someone take a speck from theirs.  When Jesus says this,  he is reminding us that we all have things in our lives that need to be cleaned up and we should not consider ourselves better than others.  If we think someone is weird, how would Jesus want us to act towards them?

Finally, we read John 4.7-10
This is a story where Jesus shows he is willing to engage in conversation with people that he wasn't "supposed" to.  Jews and Samaritans do not get along.  Jews think Samaritans are low-lifes, and have no business being in the same place.  They would just as soon never meet up with Samaritans.  And Samaritans are no better,  they have nothing by dislike for Israelites.  It is a feud that has gone on for generations.  And so here is Jesus, asking a favor of the Samaritan woman.  She is taken aback by this and asks Him why He is talking to her.  Jesus shows that he came for all people.

Our memory verse this week is Matthew 7.4-5.  Remember, memorizing this verse will get you 2 points for your team on Sunday for the points competition.

I will be posting a few more things this week, including some bonus point opportunities.  Check back!!