1/3 Prepare Your Heart for Sunday Worship

image1 (1)Sunday’s play list via YouTube This Week’s Bible Readings  Jan. 4 - Jan. 10

  •  Jan. 4 - Jan. 10, Matt. 5-7  Begin by setting a specific and consistent time to read through and pray the Scriptures. Ask the Lord to bring to mind key words especially relevant to your life, needs and interests. Circle or underline those words. Ask questions regarding the context as to the meaning of those words. Pray about those words asking God to help you understand and apply yourself to His will and the Holy Spirit's leading. Watch for things to happen that will affirm the relevance of those verses. Share the insights gained with someone else. Thank God for helping you understand them by not only learning them, but loving them and living them out each day.

Title: “Advent – The Wise Men”

Texts: Matthew 2:1-12; Micah 5:4-6;  Dan. 2:46-49;  Numbers 24:17; Isaiah 60:2-6

IN A NUTSHELL: What has the story of "The Wise Men" meant to you? Has it just been another part of the Christmas Story or maybe something bigger, like a story about very smart people willing to cash in one worldview for a better one?  The Wise Men were foreign diplomats on a quest inspired by an ancient book to find a new King!  Wise Men and women ask questions about/from the Bible and are willing to risk life changing commitments to follow it’s truths.

CONNECTING WITH THE TEXT

  1. What do we know about the Wise Men?   What is just conjecture?
  2. How could Wise Men from the East have known about a King and linked it to a star?
  3. What had Isaiah said about "the Light" in Israel?
  4. What were the uses and value of the gifts the Magi brought?

REFLECTING ON OUR LIVES

  1. How would you respond to a national leader acting the way Herod did when you had set out to find the new King with so much hope for the future?
  2. What does a closed mind look like?  What causes such a closed mind?
  3. Are there any major assumptions that you have recently turned you back on because you have sought the truth from a different perspective?

CONNECTING TO OUR CHURCH

  1. Do you see "the Church" at large as better at teaching the truth or brainwashing the next generation with urban legends?
  2. How can our church improve "truth telling" over

 Online Resources:

  1. Snopes.com on The Wise Men (facts & fiction)
  2. The Wise Men's gifts - contemporary estimates
  3. 2016 MOSAIC series and Bible Readings
  4. Inspired Evidence – Devotional for 2016
  5. Timber Lake Christian Church Website
  7. Timber Lake’s past videos (Vimeo)
Uncategorizeddougdelp