October 15 - Session Three

For our third session, we want to look at the spiritual search, and discuss it together.

For Here:
Take a look at one aspect of what the Bible says about spirituality. The verses are included below for your convenience, but you are welcome to read them in your own Bible as well. After reading the verses together, consider the questions that follow. The object is to get everyone thinking, not to provide one right answer.
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Isaiah 55
1-5 "Hey there! All who are thirsty, come to the water! Are you penniless? Come anyway—buy and eat! Come, buy your drinks, buy wine and milk. Buy without money—everything's free! Why do you spend your money on junk food, your hard-earned cash on cotton candy?Listen to me, listen well: Eat only the best, fill yourself with only the finest. Pay attention, come close now, listen carefully to my life-giving, life-nourishing words.I'm making a lasting covenant commitment with you, the same that I made with David: sure, solid, enduring love. I set him up as a witness to the nations, made him a prince and leader of the nations, And now I'm doing it to you: You'll summon nations you've never heard of, and nations who've never heard of you will come running to you Because of me, your God, because The Holy of Israel has honored you."
6-7Seek God while he's here to be found, pray to him while he's close at hand.Let the wicked abandon their way of life and the evil their way of thinking.Let them come back to God, who is merciful, come back to our God, who is lavish with forgiveness.
8-11"I don't think the way you think. The way you work isn't the way I work." God's Decree. "For as the sky soars high above earth, so the way I work surpasses the way you work, and the way I think is beyond the way you think.Just as rain and snow descend from the skies and don't go back until they've watered the earth, Doing their work of making things grow and blossom, producing seed for farmers and food for the hungry, So will the words that come out of my mouth not come back empty-handed. They'll do the work I sent them to do, they'll complete the assignment I gave them.
12-13"So you'll go out in joy, you'll be led into a whole and complete life.The mountains and hills will lead the parade, bursting with song.All the trees of the forest will join the procession, exuberant with applause.No more thistles, but giant sequoias, no more thornbushes, but stately pines—Monuments to me, to God, living and lasting evidence of God."

For discussion/reflection:
What do you think is being said about spirituality here?
Where are you in your spiritual search?
How do you respond to what God says in Isaiah 55?
Any other questions you want to discuss?



To Go:
Take some time this week to read the following verses and consider what they tell us about prayer, especially in light of what we read together in Isaiah 55. Use the table of contents in your Bible to help you find the references, if necessary. You can also look them up at www.biblegateway.com.

Psalm 42 (read this in The Message)

Matthew 5:1-10

John 4:7-14


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Blessings,
David