Sunday the 25th

Hey friends & family of Community Reformed,

We're trying something new with our Jr./Sr. High Sunday School class. We're having Bible studies about the scripture for the comming Sunday so that they'll have it on their minds for a week before they hear the sermon and maybe they'll be more engaged because they've already talked about it and mabye because they'll be looking for their own ideas in the sermon. So here are the questions posed to them about Sunday's passage. I'd challenge you to reflect on the same questions and post some of your answers.

Colossians 1:11-20
9 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, 10 so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, 12 and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his people in the kingdom of light. 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. 15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

1. Next Sunday is Christ the King Sunday. It is the last Sunday of the church calendar, which begins again in Advent. How do you suppose this passage is related to the rule of Christ?
2. Be brutally honest, if you were to take a hard look at your life, who or what is king? Who or what do you serve? (There could be more than one answer)
3. One of the most powerful ideas in this passage comes in verse 17 where it says all things hold together. It also said Christ is in all things. What does this mean to you?
4. If Christ is in all things and all things hold together, does that include both the good things that happen to us and the bad?
5. Christ the King Sunday is like the Christian Church’s New Year’s Eve. If you were to think of it that way, what resolutions would you make for the new year in your church life or as a Christian?

Sunday the 18th

"Never Tire"

Hello friends & members of Community Reformed Church. I'm sorry I'm a little behind the 8 ball this week. Here is the passage I'll be preaching on this week.

2 Thessalonians 3:6-13
6 In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers and sisters, to keep away from every believer who is idle and disruptive and does not live according to the teaching you received from us. 7 For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example. We were not idle when we were with you, 8 nor did we eat anyone's food without paying for it. On the contrary, we worked night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you. 9 We did this, not because we do not have the right to such help, but in order to offer ourselves as a model for you to imitate. 10 For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: "Anyone who is unwilling to work shall not eat." 11 We hear that some among you are idle and disruptive. They are not busy; they are busybodies. 12 Such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the bread they eat. 13 And as for you, brothers and sisters, never tire of doing what is good.

There is a lot of good instruction in here for churches. One of the first things I saw in this passage that I'll probably be addressing in the sermon has to do with 3 pitfalls that are identified and can be problematic for churches: 1. Being idle in the church 2. Being disruptive to the body 3. Being a busybody. What are your thoughts about these things in the church and how they affect church life or life in general? How do you think they should be dealt with? Please share your reflections as comments.