Posts from 2023 (Page 6)

  DISCUSSION        Out of all the good men in the life of Jesus, we read in John 3 that Nicodemus was one of two men who came to claim the body of Jesus after His death. Nicodemus was a Pharisee and a member of the council. We see him beginning to believe in Jesus, but he always did his work at night. He went to see Jesus at night, he defended Jesus at night, and he claimed His…

  DISCUSSION       Have you ever been in a place where you know you shouldn’t be? A place where the walls just reeked of temptation? A place that you know that if you do not get out of there soon there is no question you will do something you will regret? I wonder if that’s the place Joseph was when he was in Potiphar’s house. The Bible lets us know that Joseph was a handsome man, but we are not…

  DISCUSSION       One of my favorite movies of all times is “City Slickers.” This movie was a comedy about three middle aged friends who decided to go out West on the vacation of a lifetime, a cattle drive. Over the course of the movie as you see how each character develops, there is one man who finally breaks down about his life. He had made some bad choices. His marriage was in shambles and he felt as though his…

  DISCUSSION       Have you ever had one of your appliances go bad? Don’t you just hate it? Now your entire day will be spent shopping around to find the right product for the right price. Then you have to take off another day so you can meet the delivery guys when they deliver it to your home. Meanwhile, you have to make sure you remove the old appliance to make room for the new one. It isn’t until then…

  DISCUSSION         A few years ago, I was passing through the town of Selma, Alabama and discovered a very unique cemetery. The graves were very old and there was some Spanish moss in the trees. It was just all out creepy! There was one tomb that had what I thought was a very humorous epitaph. It had the women’s name, the year she was born and the year she died; but then there was this “She did what…

  DISCUSSION       Why is it that the grass always looks greener on the other side? Don’t we always seem to think everyone else has it so much better than we do? Take for instance the nation of Israel,   they had been surviving fine under the leadership of the judges. It wasn’t perfect, but as long as there were godly judges, the people seemed to follow in their footsteps. When there wasn’t good leadership, the people swayed. It was…

  Do you ever hide from God? Sounds kind of crazy doesn’t it?  As teenagers, we may have “hid” a lot of things. We may even “hide” things today.  When God walked through the garden looking for Adam and Eve after their sin, the bible says they hid from God. He called for them, even though he knew where they were, he still called for them and allowed them the opportunity to reveal themselves.  Before their sin, they had no…

    Sin can be fun. There is now doubt, sin is very attractive. However, the joy is short-lived. After the short period of enjoyment, reality sets in, guilt appears, and we realize the price that is or will be paid for the action.  I am sure the fruit on the tree in the Garden was very beautiful to Eve, but, was it that much more beautiful than the other fruit?  Do you think that Eve thought of the consequences of…

    Remember the time your best friend got a new bicycle in elementary school? Remember the time someone else took the girl you wanted to take to the Prom? Remember when your neighbor bought a house on the lake and you couldn’t afford to do the same? How did you feel? Were you happy for them, or were you jealous?  The funny thing about jealousy is that it does nothing to harm the person who actually got the benefit…

  The shooting in Las Vegas a few years ago was tragic.  What a senseless act of violence against innocent people who were just enjoying a concert.  It is impossible to understand irrational behavior, and what state of mind one would have to be in to do such a brutal thing.  As per usual, the media immediately began the blame game.  One said it was because of the conservative nature of the country music fans, one said it was because…

  How many times have you said, “If I just had more money?” or “If I just had that House.” of “If I just had that job, I would be happy”. ?? While it is human nature to want a better situation, it is not natural to be unhappy until you get it.  Adam and Eve had a wonderful situation. They had happiness, no illness, the most beautiful rivers called the Tigris and the Euphrates, fertile soil, and all the…

       We all know the story of Adam and Eve.  We typically identify this story with the first sin and the “fall” of mankind.  While this is true, there are so many lessons we can learn from this story. This week, we will discuss this story and how we can use their mistakes to make us stronger today.  The topics we will discuss are temptation, contentment, blame, jealousy, the attraction of sin, and hiding from God.    …