Summary of March 23 Care Group

Thanks to Doug and Sue we enjoyed some great berry pie! And thanks to Susan and Gary, as always, for the great meeting place!

We began with the following scriptures:
IJohn 4:19 "We love because he first loved us."
Romans 5:1-5 "Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us."
John 13:34-35 "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."
These verses show the foundation of how we are to fulfill Jesus' command to "love one another" as fruit of his work in our hearts. We also discussed how we see this work happening in our spouses because marriage is the fertile ground of the love of God. We should witness the love of God from our spouses toward others as well as those in the home.

Summary of March 9 Care Group

Debbie made us delicious breadsticks and cookies, and Susan had all of our favorite beverages ready for us. Thanks to you both! We all enjoyed snacking and chatting together before we started our discussion. Tony read from John 13: 34-35 before we sang about His love: "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." Tony asked us to elaborate on how God loves us, giving specific adjectives and examples from our lives. Here's the list of what was discussed:

-unconditionally - We bring Him our inadequacies, our poverty, our lack and His gracious gifts inspire awe in us. Why did He choose us?
-deeply and sincerely - His attention is always there for us and is never distracted from us. How amazing and mind-boggling that is!
-sacrificially - He cares for every person enough to reach out with the Gospel and change lives.
-electing - He chose us from before the foundation of the world and knew us before we even imagined knowing Him.
-exposing - God exposes Himself and His truth to others, at the same time exposing their sins and uses us in His amazing way in His love.
-safe - He cares deeply and tenderly for us. We are in a safe place when we trust in His love and follow where He leads. There are no regrets when we walk with Him.
-unchanging - God reaches out to us in our wretched state and opens our eyes. He keeps us and moves us on His path, keeps loving us, changing us, providing for us and helps us!
- He is sympathetic and has a profound care for us even when we go our own way. Jesus prayed "Forgive them for they know not what they do."
-intimate - He knows the number of hairs on our heads, when we lie down and get up. It's awesome!
-lovingkindness - He loves us in spite of our faithlessness. His love is steadfast and with us always. Even after we sin as Christians who "know better" He remains faithful and keeps His loving eyes on us.
-God wants us to experience His love now, but the full realization won't be until we are in heaven. He has plans for our lives and is always willing to rescue us from trouble.
-protective - He has kept us from danger and death untold times. We can't even know how much he has protected us from our own destruction in His kindness.
-personal - He loves ME and gave Himself for ME. Sometimes it's easier to believe that He loves everyone, but we must receive the personal love of God.

We ended with Romans 5:5 "hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us."

Next care group we will discuss point number 2 from our church's Mission Statement "Love Others." We need to understand and be able to elaborate on how God loves us before we can effectively love others. Jesus said "just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another." He is our ultimate example!

Summary of February 23 Care Group

After some tasty cherry and pumpkin pie, we sang about how we "want to sing of His love." Tony started us off with Psalm 121:1-2 "I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth." Here are the questions that we considered in response to a recent Sunday morning message from early January:

1. Do you have a clear mission for your life? If so, what is it?
2. Our church's mission statement starts with "Love God." How do you implement that into your daily life?
3. Are there current obstacles in your way that are affecting your love for God?

We discussed various themes as we elaborated on what God is doing in our lives and how we seek to love Him practically. Those themes were:
-being thankful for friends that pray for us
-being thankful for His word and seeking to make spending time with Him a priority
-knowing that our love for God is weak, and yet striving to love Him more and more
-wanting to please Him with our everyday activities and reactions
-remembering that God is pleased with the fact that we love Him
-wanting to give Him glory as we seek to honor the gospel with our lives

Mark read from Psalm 43 "Vindicate me, O God, and defend my cause against an ungodly people, from the deceitful and unjust man deliver me! For you are the God in whom I take refuge...Send our your light and truth; let them lead me; let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling! Than I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy, and I will praise you with the lyre, O God, my God."

Summary of January 19 Care Group

Tonight we welcomed Mark and Kristi to our group! Everyone was in attendance. After singing about how deep is the love of God for us, Tony started us off by reading from Ps 86:5-6 "For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you. Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer; listen to my plea for grace."

Tony then asked us how the CD series we just finished by Paul Tripp has affected our walks with God. Here are the themes that were discussed:
-Having worked through the messages with everyone from the care group has amplified the benefit in our lives because we had the chance to work out practical applications for our everyday lives.
-We feel more connected to the body.
-This is a safe place to know my heart is guarded by accountability to others.
-private vs. public persona: -It's good to know that we don't have to pretend we are flawless in front of others.
-It's important to respond to others with the soft brush of God's grace.
-God's agenda is evident as we come together.
-God never intended for us to be alone in our walk with Him. His perfect plan includes us caring for and loving one another.

Then we spent the remainder of the time identifying gifts in some of our members. Here are some of the evidences of grace we see by God's activity in each other: mercy, caring, faithfulness, serving, friendship, love, sacrifice, wisdom, humility, approachability, steadfastness, committment. Isn't God amazing?? He takes people like us and works His beautiful fruit into our lives so that others can see!!

Eric ended with Ps 16: 1-2 "Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge. I say to the Lord, 'You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.'"