Hello Everyone! I hope you are having a good day!
Social Stuff:
It was a very busy week this past week what with our nephew Orry's medical emergency and the successful events that transpired. We also had a very good Mother's Day celebration with my Mom at Delmar Gardens on Saturday, and then on Sunday we went to Jane's Mom and Dad's for another excellent day. I often reflect upon those past times when Jane and I lived out of the St. Louis area and the good times we missed during that period with our families. We had a lot of good times where ever we were but it is always good to be able to spend time with family. We are traveling to Madison Wisconsin this next week to visit Todd, Amy, and the grandkids and looking forward to a great time there.
Koinonia Sunday School Class:
We had 6 people in our class with the following prayer requests being put forth.
1. Cyndie's mom is expecting lab results this next week and they are concerned about the results.
2. Marilyn Cook is a friend of Betty's who is living in South Africa and who was involved in a serious car accident that killed Marilyn's husband. Marilyn herself is in critical condition and Betty ask for prayers for Marilyn.
3. Doug Nichols (Bill's nephew) is to complete his chemo therapy this next week and they were hopeful of good results.
4. Charlotte's daughter is experiencing her first Mother's Day without her daughter who died this past year.
5. Terry asked for prayers for his brother Jeff's family who experience a nearly fatal event with their son Orry this past week, but which appears to have had a very successful outcome.
6. Prayers for safe travel was offered for all those people who will be traveling during the Mother's Day holiday.
7. Cyndie raise a joy that all members of her family were doing well and enjoying their lives.
Class material studied was Romans Chapter 2 vs 2 thru vs 16
These verses continued Paul's message that all people sin and in need of God's Grace and salvation thru Jesus Christ. After having addressed the serious sins of the homosexual community, Paul proceed to advise that those people who judge the homosexual community are worse sinners than those they judge. Paul points to the "kindness" of God and that this "kindness" is intended to allow all of us to turn away from our sins.
Paul continues in verse 6 by saying "(God) will judge everyone according to what they have done." Paul continues in verse 7 saying "(God) will give eternal life to those who keep on doing good, seeking after the glory and honor and immortality that God offers." Then in verse 8 Paul concludes this train of thought saying "But (God) will pour out his anger and wrath on those who live for themselves, who refuse to obey the truth and instead liver lives o wickedness."
Paul is making it very clear that God's judgement is based upon what we DO and there will be judgement for all those of us who fail to DO what is right. Paul continues this message in verse 13 when he writes "...It is obeying the law that makes us right in his sight." and then in verse 16 "And this is the message, I proclaim- that the day is coming when God, through Christ Jesus, will judge every one's secret life."
Paul is telling us that we will all be judge by what we do and that God will punish those who do wrongly. It is important to remember at this point that one aspects of these early chapters and verses of Romans by Paul are an attempt to communicate that each one of us is a sinner and that we will be judged harshly because of our sin. Not a one of us is exempt from this judgement. Paul will eventually turn his argument to the amazing point that; although each one of us is a sinner and will be judged accordingly, we have an advocate with Jesus Christ who will argue for us in God's court and because of Christ's death and resurrection we will be saved if only we believe in and follow Christ's lead.
But that is a class and discussion for another day and so I will close here and suggest that in the meantime you
Have a Great Day and Enjoy Life!
Terry Pursley
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Sunday, May 2, 2010
May 3, 2010
It is actually Sunday (May 2, 2010) evening but I Titled this Blog for Monday for reasons I do not quite understand. Probably because I just want to keep the Monday "thing" going but I'm not sure.
Social Stuff:
I rode my bicycle today (5/2/10) in my first MS Bike training road ride. Previously I have ridden on closed courses by myself. Today however I rode with about 250 other riders on back roads in the Chesterfield Mo. area. Much different riding with a large group and on roads where you have to pay attention to vehicular traffic as well as other bikers. These group training rides are very helpful in preparation for the eventual 75 mile per day (for two day) MS Bike ride in September. Today's ride was for 26 miles on flat terrain and I was able to average 15.5 mph which is pretty good considering the multiple stops one has to make on the open road. I felt weak the first 5 miles but I then began to gain strength and finished very strong the last 7 miles. I got up to over 20 mph! Lots of other bikers were passing me but this year I have been passing a few as well.
Koinonia Sunday School Class
We had a large class today because we had visitors from other classes join us. I believe we had up to 13 people in class.
We had prayer requests for
1) Teresa Schlobohm's wrist which was broken this past week.
2) David Hartsock (Alan and Teresa's friend) who is still recovering from a sky diving accident.
3) Ed Montgomery who left church today not feeling well.
4) Bob Meinz friend (Rudi) who is recovering from health concern.
5) Betty's Son who is a letter carrier in the Nashville, Tn. area where all the flooding is currently taking place.
The Class Material discussed today was Romans Chapter 1 vs 18 thru Chapter 2 vs 1
In this section, Paul emphasizes God shows His anger with sin. Paul had started the Book of Romans on a cordial note but in these verses Paul address the difficult issue of sin. Paul explains in verses 18 thru 20 that all people know the truth about God because God has made it obvious to humans. Then in verse 21 he hits upon a key point when Paul writes -
"Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn't worship him as God or even give him thanks . And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like."
and then in verse 21, Paul writes -
"So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other's bodies."
In addition, Paul, still relating back to the people identified in vs 21 states in verse 29,
"Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip."
and finally in Chapter 2 Verse 1 Paul continues by speaking to his audience -
"You may think you can condemn such people, but you are just as bad, and you have no excuse! When you say they are wicked and should be punished, you are condemning yourself, for you who judge others do these very same things."
Apparently, homosexuality, was a very "hot topic" in Rome during Paul's time much as it is today in our culture. In his attempt to grab the attention of his audience, which was primarily Roman Christians of both Jew and Gentile backgrounds, Paul begins his logic argument by saying homosexuality is a sin, which many of his audience members would have readily agreed with. However, Paul then switches his argument. He confronts his (pious?) audience who were judging the homosexual community, by saying his audience was just as "sinful" as the homosexual society because his audience members were also sinning to the same degree. They were not worshiping God, they were listening to foolish ideas, and they were not obeying God's word.
Paul was attempting to make sure his (Jewish/Gentile Christian) audience understood they were just as sinful as those groups his audience was condemning. Paul would appear to be making this point so that, in his following arguments, each audience member would understand they were in need Christ's salvation.
This argument of Paul's will continue in next week's lesson and I would encourage everyone to read ahead and be ready to ask questions and offer comments to further our discussion. Until then,
Have a Great Day and Enjoy Life!
Terry Pursley
PS - Once again I need to state that the above thoughts are mine and mine alone. They are not sanctioned by Salem Church, our Pastor, the United Methodist Church, or any other intelligent party, and thus I encourage each person to read the related Scriptures and develop their own understandings.
T.P.
Social Stuff:
I rode my bicycle today (5/2/10) in my first MS Bike training road ride. Previously I have ridden on closed courses by myself. Today however I rode with about 250 other riders on back roads in the Chesterfield Mo. area. Much different riding with a large group and on roads where you have to pay attention to vehicular traffic as well as other bikers. These group training rides are very helpful in preparation for the eventual 75 mile per day (for two day) MS Bike ride in September. Today's ride was for 26 miles on flat terrain and I was able to average 15.5 mph which is pretty good considering the multiple stops one has to make on the open road. I felt weak the first 5 miles but I then began to gain strength and finished very strong the last 7 miles. I got up to over 20 mph! Lots of other bikers were passing me but this year I have been passing a few as well.
Koinonia Sunday School Class
We had a large class today because we had visitors from other classes join us. I believe we had up to 13 people in class.
We had prayer requests for
1) Teresa Schlobohm's wrist which was broken this past week.
2) David Hartsock (Alan and Teresa's friend) who is still recovering from a sky diving accident.
3) Ed Montgomery who left church today not feeling well.
4) Bob Meinz friend (Rudi) who is recovering from health concern.
5) Betty's Son who is a letter carrier in the Nashville, Tn. area where all the flooding is currently taking place.
The Class Material discussed today was Romans Chapter 1 vs 18 thru Chapter 2 vs 1
In this section, Paul emphasizes God shows His anger with sin. Paul had started the Book of Romans on a cordial note but in these verses Paul address the difficult issue of sin. Paul explains in verses 18 thru 20 that all people know the truth about God because God has made it obvious to humans. Then in verse 21 he hits upon a key point when Paul writes -
"Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn't worship him as God or even give him thanks . And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like."
and then in verse 21, Paul writes -
"So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other's bodies."
In addition, Paul, still relating back to the people identified in vs 21 states in verse 29,
"Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip."
and finally in Chapter 2 Verse 1 Paul continues by speaking to his audience -
"You may think you can condemn such people, but you are just as bad, and you have no excuse! When you say they are wicked and should be punished, you are condemning yourself, for you who judge others do these very same things."
Apparently, homosexuality, was a very "hot topic" in Rome during Paul's time much as it is today in our culture. In his attempt to grab the attention of his audience, which was primarily Roman Christians of both Jew and Gentile backgrounds, Paul begins his logic argument by saying homosexuality is a sin, which many of his audience members would have readily agreed with. However, Paul then switches his argument. He confronts his (pious?) audience who were judging the homosexual community, by saying his audience was just as "sinful" as the homosexual society because his audience members were also sinning to the same degree. They were not worshiping God, they were listening to foolish ideas, and they were not obeying God's word.
Paul was attempting to make sure his (Jewish/Gentile Christian) audience understood they were just as sinful as those groups his audience was condemning. Paul would appear to be making this point so that, in his following arguments, each audience member would understand they were in need Christ's salvation.
This argument of Paul's will continue in next week's lesson and I would encourage everyone to read ahead and be ready to ask questions and offer comments to further our discussion. Until then,
Have a Great Day and Enjoy Life!
Terry Pursley
PS - Once again I need to state that the above thoughts are mine and mine alone. They are not sanctioned by Salem Church, our Pastor, the United Methodist Church, or any other intelligent party, and thus I encourage each person to read the related Scriptures and develop their own understandings.
T.P.
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