Review from October 31

Hey 56ers,  Hope you are having a great week.  We had a really good discussion on Sunday morning, -Our topic was "Why does God let bad things happen?" it was a tough topic, but at the same time, there is hope that can be found, no matter how hard life gets.

We spent a lot of time looking at the story of Job - found in the Old Testament.  Job was a man who had a lot, a large family, lots of livestock, land.  He then lost it all.  We read in chapter one that Satan had to ask permission to attack Job, and God allows him to do it, but he limits what Satan can do to Job.  Anyway, Job loses almost everything, bang bang bang bang bang! and  his reaction is, in our memory verse (chapter 1.20) he got up, tore his robe, and worshipped God.  WOW!! really!  He doesn't curse God, he doesn't turn away, but he trusts God and chooses to put him first!  

We also glimpsed quickly, but ran out of time to get really deep into the story of John the Baptist from Matthew 11 and 14.

John the Baptist and his followers have been looking for the Messiah, and they think Jesus is him, but John asks for confirmation because he is in prison and knows that Jesus could free him.  Jesus confirms to John's followers that Jesus is the Messiah, and that people are getting healed.  A couple of chapters later, John is executed.  John was Jesus' follower, he was doing great things to let people know about Jesus, so why didn't Jesus miraculously free John from jail?  Maybe John was wondering if God even care? But John stayed true to God.  John didn't get to see the end result of his hard work, but God used him.

Our final passage was Isaiah 43. 1-5  God promises to be with us no matter what we go through.  He knows us,  he has paid the ultimate price for us.  We are precious to him and He has our best interests in mind.  

It is a hard topic to discuss.  We want our God to make our life easy.  That isn't the business that He is in.  He cares more about our heart and our devotion to Him than He does about our comfort.  We need to trust Him like He is the only one that can help us, because He is!  He is in control and He is on our side. That alone is worth worshipping. 

Bonus Point Opportunity

As mentioned, I will give 5 bonus points to each person who can answer the following questions about pastor Ivan's sermon on Sunday.  Here it is:

Pastor Ivan gave us 8 "dynamics of temptation" (8 things to know to help us battle against temptation)  name 1 of those 8 points.

email your answer to livealifealive@gmail.com or write it down with your homework questions and bring it to me on Sunday.

CP