• Daily Manna January 25 Proverbs 10:17 What is one thing you look for in a mentor or someone to give you guidance?

    1. This section of Solomons proverbs are full of Point/Counter Point in regards to the Wicked vs the Righteous, Foolish vs Wise, Lazy vs Worker and in our text the Listener vs the Deaf (figuratively). Recently took a leadership course on Effective Listening (multiple times in my professional career over the years). The older I get the more I realize that looking back I was a terrible listener. This is a part of my life I am purposefully dedicating more time and effort in. Listening and actually hearing and reflecting on the things God has told us (me). Hearing the instruction of Wisdom from above.

  • Daily Manna January 13 Deuteronomy 10:12-13 what thoughts did you have from your reading today?

    1. God tells us over and over He does not change. His expectations of His people have been the same since creation. Fear Him for He is God, Creator, All Powerful, All Knowing and Omnipresent. Walk in all His ways Love Him with all your might Serve Him with all your might Keep His commandments Jesus taught these very same things for us. These are not simply items to check off but rather a conscience choice I must make everyday. I’m so very thankful the Lord is forgiving. I have failed over the years to be as consistent daily as a should. This continues to be my desire daily though. Let’s all make a practice to pray for each other that we all may live for Him each day.

  • Immersive Bible Reading Daniel 3 Questions 1. Using a Bible dictionary or Wikipedia (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadrach,_Meshach,_and_Abednego) look up the names Daniel, Hannaniah, Azariah, and Mishael. What do these names mean and what bearing might they have on the narrative of chapter 3?  2. According to v. 3 who was called to come to the image dedication? Who from our story would have been part of this group?  3. Who turned the three Jews over to Nebuchadnezzar? What might’ve been their motivation in this? 4. How does vs. 15 foreshadow what comes later in this story?  5. Where do Hannaniah, Mishael, and Azariahplace their confidence? 6. What does vs. 25 demonstrate about when God’s people find themselves in midst of the fire so to speak?  7. Do you have any thoughts about the identity of the 4th individual in the furnace?  8. Which of the 4 responses to culture  that we have discussed do we see employed in this chapter (Resistance, Co-existence, conformity/embracing, transformation)? 9. What is the nature of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego’s response? Is it violent, aggressive, submissive, fearful? How would you describe it?  10. What effect do Hannaniah, Mishael, and Abednego’s actions have?  11. How does this chapter highlight the main theme of the book: the sovereignty of God?  12. What applications can you take from this chapter as you seek to be crafted by Christ rather than culture?
    Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego - Wikipedia
    en.m.wikipedia.org

    1. Daily manna January 11 Ecclesiastes 12:13 what thoughts do you have from today’s reading?

      1. I see a picture of an elderly man speaking to a young man expressing to him his personal journey. Time had gotten away from him in his folly and foolish quests in life rather than remembering daily to dedicate his days to God and His service. Now the man is old and filled with regret. He describes what might be his personal state, no longer having pleasure in life and at the edge of the river of life not long from returning to his creator. There are many lessons but the picture to me is sad. We can not relive our lives or unwind our mistakes but we can do our best to help others and prevent a similar scenario. The summation in vs 13 is not only wise direction for us but in this I see again the conclusion and realization of what this man had wished he had lived. Each day we awake, purposefully live our lives serving and meditating on God.

    2. Daily Manna January 10 Psalm 1. what thoughts did you have from today’s reading?

      1. I suppose the concept of meditating on God’s word day and night is more of a hyperbole to describe the constant impact of the word rather than a literal description?

      2. could be hyperbole or perhaps more likely a merism (a figure of speech were two opposite poles are meant to convey everything in between, I.e. from east to west - everywhere, day and night - all the time). It is about reflecting on God’s word at all times of the day and letting that guide you. It becomes the way and source of life for the man or woman of God. Similar, to Paul’s hyperbolic “pray without ceasing”

    3. Daily Manna January 7th James 4:13-16, Do you have reflection from today’s reading that yo would like to share?

      1. Daily Manna January 6th Deut. 30:15-20 What reflection from today’s reading would you like to share?

        1. Trey, I hesitate to comment before your video! LOL (In case I have it all wrong.) Today's reading stresses to me that my faith, my love for and belief in God must be active. Daily (even hourly) I must purpose to obey His commandments, love Him, walk in His ways, and hold fast to Him. So far the readings this week have made me more aware than ever of how I must be mindful of loving and serving God by living how He instructs and by truly loving the people around me. I like these short readings because I can remember them and keep them on my mind throughout the day. Thanks, Trey! Also I see how easy it is for our hearts to be drawn away to other gods....If we do not stay focused on serving God and doing His will, it is easy to be distracted by the world. And by the world I don't necessarily mean the temptation to do "big sins", but the temptation of busyness, spending time on mindless distractions, being influenced to improve self for the sake of being perceived as better by others, but not necessarily according to God's standards of humbleness, unselfish service to others, etc.

        2. Lol! That presupposes that either I have it all right or that I am seeing and expressing it from every possible angle AND that your angle (or anyone else’s) is not equally valid! I am highly suspicious of all of those scenarios 😊 I appreciate your point about the hourly choice we must make to follow God and the seemingly innocuous things that might draw us away from serving God. In some ways, I think these can be more harmful to us ultimately because so often times we fail to recognize their ability to lull our passion for God and to divert our devotion.

      2.  — Edited

        Daily Manna January 5 Luke 9:23-25 what’s one reflection you had from your reading today?

        1. Trey, I appreciated your explanation of what taking up our cross means....loving like Jesus loves us. I will share two of my observations from this passage. 1. We are to take up take up our cross daily. This is not a one and done thing. EVERY DAY we must purpose to deny ourselves and our selfish tendencies and inclinations to sin and then take up our cross and follow Jesus. 2. We cannot follow someone we do not see. We must see Jesus. We must know Him and see Him and then follow Him. (following is doing what He says? Living like His example?)

      3. Immersive Bible Reading Week 2 Daniel 2 Here are some questions to aid your reading and reflection. joked that everyone should turn their questions into me to be graded haha. I try to answer as many of these as I can in our sermon period on Sunday evening but I do not always get to every one of them, and even when I do, I realize that I do not always make the answers explicit. Would love if we could get some discussion going on these again!!! Feel free to answer 1-3 of the questions that especially aided your reflection on this chapter below! Would it be helpful if I gave some of my answers to the questions on Monday mornings following the lesson? 1. Compare this chapter to Gen. 41. Do any common themes emerge?  2. What is the difference in the way that magicians, astrologers, enchanters, and wise men conduct their work vs. what we see Daniel doing in this chapter? Does he resort to their means of divination? What might these different methods reveal about their view of the gods vs. Daniel’s view of his God? 3. What does Nebuchednezzar charge his wise men with in v. 9? (Compare v. 9 with v. 21) 4. What do vv. 10-11 foreshadow in this story? How does this speak to the major theme of the book: the Sovereignty of Yahweh? 5. What seems to be the Chaldean’s view of their gods and their relationship to humanity according to v. 11? What is the Israelite view of God (Ex. 29:45-46)? 6. What fate awaited Daniel and his three friends and why according to vv. 17-18? 7. Does Daniel praise God for simply knowing and revealing the future or is there something more in vv. 20-23?  8. Who is the “we” of v. 23?  9. Who does God save according to v. 24? Do you find any significance in this? 10. Perhaps in contrast to the Chaldeans view of God (v. 11), what is Daniel’s view of God according to vv. 37-38?  11. In your own words summarize what Nebuchadnezzar’s dream was about: 12. The king pays homage to Daniel ( v. 46). Who does Daniel give glory to in this chapter and what does that teach us about how to handle our own successes?  13. Last Sunday we spoke explicitly about three ways in which we as the people of God relate to culture and referenced another: 1) Resistance: At times we may be called to resist culture through either fight or flight responses. 2) Coexistence: At times we are called to live alongside culture, amicably and respectfully. 3) Embrace: Sometimes culture gets it right and there are things from within the culture that we can and should embrace. (Obviously there are things within culture that we might be prone to embrace but ought not.) 4) Transformation: Sometimes our relationship to culture is as lights shining in the darkness, working within it to elevate it and transform it. Do you see any of these strategies employed in this chapter? If so, which ones and at what points?  14. Thinking about the above approaches to culture, how did the rock (God’s kingdom) of Daniel’s interpretation shatter the human kingdoms within the movement of Jesus and his followers? In other words, what strategies do we see employed by Jesus and his early followers in the Roman Empire?  15. How does Nebuchadnezzar’s response (vv. 46-49) illustrate the major theme of the book?  16. How does the dual theme of God’s power and providence relate to the themes of prayer and praise in this chapter?

        1. Daily Manna January 4 Proverbs 3:1-8 What is one reflection from today’s reading you’d like to share?

          1. Today I am focusing on binding steadfast love and faithfulness around my neck; being mindful of God's love and faithfulness as well as how I can show steadfast love and faithfulness to Him and to those around me. When something is bound on your neck, it is sure to be on the forefront of your mind all day!

          2. It is remarkable to me how many times the message to not consider yourself wise is repeated over and over again. It reminds me of the way the Roman generals in triumphs had someone in the chariot with them to remind them that they are only a man. Maybe I'm just stuck on all the Roman stuff, but again it seems there is a pattern to the world. When we overestimate ourselves we can easily fall.

          3. I’ve heard before that Marcus Aurelius did this. Do we need someone to take us down a few notches from time to time? Perhaps!! I know for me, often when I interact with others, hear their faith, and learn from their insights I am reminded that I do not know everything and that I ought to lean on others more than I do. There is perhaps a healthy measure of comparison that we should engage in. To use a mundane example, oftentimes when I see the craftsmanship, ability, technique, etc. of other wood workers I am left in awe and motivated to try new things and broaden my skill set. When we insulate ourselves from others we have a tendency to overestimate our importance or standing.