Coming in June to the First Circle Discussion Group:

Ethan’s Riddle

details to come

Kids Church L.I.V.E. Road Trip to the Creation Museum from Mike Shelton on Vimeo.

First Circle minicast

Here’s the “Advent Conspiracy” that I’ve been talking about in our discussion group and @ Christmas devotion.

First Circle minicast

This year’s annual Speed the Light Chili Cookoff was a lot of fun. It was great that we actually had a missionary at this one.

• The Question: What’s the deal with authority and teachings on authority?  What/where are the limits?

• The Problem: American Christians don’t always respond well to authority.

• The Informing Text: 1 Peter 2:13-17

• The Big Idea: With few exceptions, we are intended to live in submission to authority, serving as servants of God and in so doing, striving to follow the example of Jesus.

• The Question: In what ways (if any) am I being a hypocrite?

• The Problem: There have been 2 messages throughout history.

• The Informing Text: 1 Peter 1:20 – 2:3

• The Big Idea: Pursue the deeper desires (from a changed heart) instead of the lesser desires (hypocrisy, envy, slander).

During our last discussion we were talking about different resources for staying encouraged (maintaining our hope) and staying in the Word. Youversion is my favorite modern resource.

• The Question: On a scale of 1 to 10 how would you rate your hope?

• The Problem: The object of our hope can die (depending on what/who that is).

• The Informing Text: 1 Peter 1:13-21 NLT

• The Big Idea: If we can hold on to our hope (in areas we will discuss) we will grow into maturity and not fall back into an “I give up” attitude.

A few weeks ago we began our new discussion that will take us all the way through the rest of this year into mid-January. HELL’S KITCHEN: Why Am I Going Through This? is about all that we go through on our life journey. During the first few weeks of our discussion we’ve been trying to answer the question,  “Is the journey actually worth the trip?” What’s with all of these trials and hardships? If we’re living for God and He’s got our back, why all the trouble? And are we learning anything as we work through some of the trouble?

For the next 17 weeks we’ll be continuing this informed discussion combining the New Testament teachings of Peter with insights from other popular authors and of course our own insights as we go. Hopefully this will be an encouraging look at why we can dare to hope no matter what our situation. Feel free to join in the discussion on Sunday mornings during Good Shepherd’s Sunday Bible Fellowship hour or online here on our (hopefully) weekly posts. It would be great to get an online discussion going first before we discuss the posted topic on Sunday.

Note: If you have never posted on this blog before, I will have to review and approve your post before it will show up in the discussion thread. Then after I have approved you once, your posts after that will show up immediately.

First Circle minicast