New Year Studies

 A New Year and Two Great New Studies!!

Unglued by Lysa Terkeurst – Making Wise Choices in the Midst of Raw Emotions:  What do we do with these raw emotions? Is it really possible to make emotions work for us instead of against us? Yes, and in her usual inspiring and practical way, Lysa will show you how. 
This 7-week study meets on Wednesdays from 9:30-11:30am in rooms 215, 217, & 219 beginning January 16. Cost of text is $12. CLICK HERE to register.
Promo video ~ http://www.ungluedbook.com/


 
 

Jonah: Navigating a Life Interrupted - by Priscilla Shirer : What do we do when God interrupts our lives? Many times, like Jonah, we run! In this 7-session Bible study, Priscilla redefines interruption and shows that interruption is actually God's invitation to do something beyond our wildest dreams. When Jonah was willing to allow God to interrupt his life, the result was revival in an entire city.
This 7-week study meets on Wednesdays from 9:30-11:30am in rooms 215, 217, & 219 beginning March 20. Cost of text is $12. CLICK HERE to register.

           

New Fall Studies Announcement!!

Announcing Our Fall Study ~ The Patriarchs by Beth Moore!!

The Patriarchs: Encountering the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob by Beth Moore

Throughout 11 weeks of exciting, engaging intrigue, participants will plunge into the heart of Genesis, to God's remarkable pursuit of relationship and to the unfolding of His earthly plan: that through one nation—and ultimately, one man—all people on earth will be blessed. Full of twists and turns, ruin and redemption, revelation and mystery this Bible study keeps participants captivated by the God who stars in it! 

Here's how to Register:

Email Laurie Schramm at slschramm@tx.rr.com

Let her know if you need childcare.
Dates: September 5 - November 14. (11 Weeks)
Cost: $15.00 ~ bring your payment the first day. We will have your book to pick up.
Time: 9:30-11:30AM  Wednesday's
Place: Gathering Room

~~News from Jenifer Blair!!~~

God continues to do amazing new things in our midst and I am excited (and a little sad) to let you know that I will be "passing the baton" of leadership to some wonderful women! My responsibilities with Moms in Prayer have picked up and I feel that the Lord has called me "out" as your large group facilitator so that He can bring someone new "in"! Please join me in welcoming and praying for Angie McCoy! Angie has graciously (and somewhat reluctantly) agreed to step into this vital position. Without Angie, you would not have a group, so please thank the Lord for her willing, humble heart to serve you.
Others have stepped up too and I would like to recognize them at the beginning of this year so that you can all see that it takes a lot of workers to pull together a study group this big.
Laurie Schramm will be handling registrations.
Wendy Naumann will be managing our payments and budget.
Mary Huizinga will be our Prayer Request Coordinator.
Janell Taylor will help research new studies and maintain the SOS blog.

~~Fall Evening Study Option!!~~
Unglued~ Making Wise Choices In The Midst of Raw Emotion 

Here's how to Register: Email Janell Taylor ~ mctayloh@att.net

Let Janell know if you need childcare.
Dates: Thursdays Evenings, September 20 - November 1st (7 Weeks)

Cost: $12 ~ bring your payment the first day (Cash or Check). I will have your book to pick up.
Time: 7-8:30PM
Place: Room 214 upstairs

Lysa TerKeurst admits that she, like most women, has experiences where others bump into her happy and she comes emotionally unglued. We stuff, we explode, or react somewhere in between.
What do we do with these raw emotions? Is it really possible to make emotions work for us instead of against us? Yes, and in her usual inspiring and practical way, Lysa will show you how.
Filled with personal examples and Biblical teaching.

If you are interested in attending the Beth Moore Live Worldwide Simulcast in Frisco at a neighboring church, please go ahead and register!!  It will be held on Saturday, September 15th.

Just click Here to register.  Then, let Janell Taylor know you'll be attending by emailing her at mctayloh@att.net   It would be great to enjoy the day together!!

The Truth - Week 5

This week in Nehemiah we enjoyed looking at the 'Truth' and exploring how to acquire JOY. Kelly also took us for an in depth look into Jerusalem establishing their citizenship, to the first hearing of the Law of Moses from the LORD as they gathered within the new walls of Jerusalem. We saw how they respected it so much! They surely yearned to hear God's word for many years without it, and when they heard it, many for the first time, they were convicted and moved to tears. I say some were tears of sorrow and some were happy tears, maybe even relief...hope. Kelly is right, "When God's Word takes center stage and we begin to see the chasm between where we are and where we are supposed to be, some serious grieving and weeping results."

These are two of my favorites that I hoped would relate to our study. "I'm just a nobody that's tryin to tell everybody about somebody that can save anybody." "The truth about it is, whether we is rich or poor or something in between, this earth ain't no final restin place. So in a way, we is all homeless just workin our way toward home." -Denver Moore (Same Kind of Different as Me, Ron Hall and Denver Moore) ~ Awesome book!! (Denver was homeless)

I was given this short document below from my dad a few weeks ago. I saved it and thought it would apply this week, and hope you will enjoy it. Jerusalem worked so hard at building up the wall of protection and promise from God. God then broke down the dividing wall between the Jews and the Gentiles through his son Jesus Christ so that all can choose to be free.(Eph 2:14) No matter what our checkered past, unlike the Jews, we don't have to work anymore. We GET to believe in Jesus - the Joy has been set before us. I will let this truth speak for it's self. Enjoy!

View The Inside Story tract by clicking here.

"Now, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand, and we rejoice in the hope of the Glory of God."  Rom 5:1-3

"I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you." Psalm 119:11

Click here for the Video 5 link to Kelly's Video if you missed it.

Finish Well

This week, Kelly took us through a jammed packed week of action that included internal struggles of the Jewish people, more distraction, deception and lies from Sanballet, Gesham and Tobiah, finishing the wall (in 52 days), and taking a record of the families that were actually in Jerusalem.  Nehemiah wasn't in the least distracted by lies and intimidation.  His biggest weapon was once again prayer.(vs.5:19, 6:9)  Throughout it all, Nehemiah never lost track of why he was there~The People!!!  He even layed down his special privileges as Governor for the people.

What good is a fancy new city wall without it's people?  The Jewish people were in a state of famine and poverty.  They were unfairly taxed and charged 'interest' on money loaned to them, having to give their land and their own family members as collateral!!  It was against the law of Moses to charge interest on money loaned. (Deut 23:19-20).  Nehemiah didn't loose sight of why he was there.  He cared for the powerless Jewish people by addressing the nobles and rulers with a 'holy anger' and a condemning shake of his robe.  He rebuked them in front of an assembly.  With priests as his witnesses they agreed to repay every penny and change their ways.  Then, they all praised God!


As the people put the finishing touches of hanging the gates on the wall, the enemy was persistent.  Sanballet and Geshem made a last effort to distract Nehemiah by luring him away from his work to meet.  They even hired someone to try to scare Nehemiah into sinning.  Nehemiah persevered and they finished the Jerusalem wall in a short 52 days!!  The enemies were disheartened to see the project's completion. They clearly saw that this was the great work of God. (Neh 6:16) What an embarassment to Sanballet and his crew. :)


Nehemiah pressed on through all obstacles just as we should persevere in our own lives, for as Paul says in Phil 1:6, ..being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.  We are to finish well.  Fight the good fight and keep your faith. (2 Tim 4:7)   Jesus says, in John 16:33, In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."  "A thief is only there to steal and kill and destroy.  I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better than they ever dreamed of." John 10:10

We reach the end of this part of the story.  The wall was finished.  Now Nehemiah must protect what he has accomplished.  He appointed leadership to his brother Hanani and Hananiah.  In Nehemiah 7:2 they are described as faithful men that feared God more than many.  Dr. Bob Jones said, "The greatest ability is dependability."  "When leaders fear people instead of fearing God, they end up getting trapped (Prov. 29:25), and that leads to failure."


What does it look like to fear God?  Warren Wiersbe states, "The fear of our God is not the servile dread of a slave toward a master but the loving respect of a child toward a parent.  To fear the Lord means to seek to glorify God in everything we do.  It means listening to His Word, honoring it, and obeying it.  Oswald Chambers writes, "The remarkable thing about fearing God, is that when you fear God, you fear nothing else, whereas if you do not fear God, you fear everything else."  So, Nehemiah was obviously motivated by the fear of the Lord as he never feared his enemy. 


We see that truly Nehemiah loved the Lord his God with all his heart, all his soul, and all his mind and loved his neighbor as himself.  (Matt 22:37-40)  He never lost sight of God's purpose - the people.  Nehemiah finished well.  "God commends (demonstrates) His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8


Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.  Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will. - Romans 12:2


May he give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed.  We will shout for joy when you are victorious and will lift up our banners in the name of our God.  May the Lord grant all your requests.  Psalm 20:4-5


The video session 4 link is HERE

To join us for a live chat on Wednesday nights, join our private Facebook group page. CLICK HERE, Then you can request to join.

**Reference used - Warren Wiersbe's - Be Determined

Workers and Warriors

Greetings!
It was a great night!  We started out with a song - He Leadeth Me (Here)

We dove into the homework and discussion which focused on the beginning of rebuilding the gates and the wall of Jerusalem.  

I loved how Kelly made some important connections this week!  First, as it was the Jewish people's job to rebuild the wall, it is our job to restore each other's hearts in love and faith through Jesus Christ who takes away our sin and shame.  "You yourselves, as living stones, are being built into a spiritual house for a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." 1 Peter 2:5  Jesus is our cornerstone. (Eph 2:19-22)

Then, as the Jews worked, they filled the gaps in the wall just as we fill each other's gaps 'in faith'.  We are not called to serve alone.  We can work right along each other just as the Jewish workers did.  Sometimes, this is the best way to get to really know someone when we serve with them.  Our natural life experiences and gifts will naturally cause us to care more deeply about some things than others.   What better way to serve and relate to others than remembering the lessons we've learned in life to help others.  2 Corin 1:4 says, "He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us."

Sure enough, as they set to work, here came the obstacles!!  As President Roosevelt stated to the nation, " The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."  Amen!  There is nothing the devil likes more than for us to fear.  It's paralyzing and contagious!  It spreads just like it did through the Jewish people when they were threatened.  Frightened people discourage others and help bring defeat. (Deut. 20:8)  When we are facing fear in our lives, we have to remind ourselves of the greatness of God!  Nehemiah was so great at this. :) 

When the enemy learned that the Jewish people were armed and ready to 'watch', they backed off!  God frustrated their plot!!  "The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing;  He makes the plans of the peoples of no effect.  The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of His heart to all generations."  Ps 33:10-11  Yep.  He is our Sovereign God, however it is not enough to build the wall; we must also be on guard lest the Enemy take it from us.

Kelly asked us to keep considering the connections of the Jews guarding their city as we think about guarding our hearts. (p 45)  She had us read Eph 6:10-18, The Armor of God.  As the workers kept an eye out for the enemy, they kept an ear out for the trumpet too. (vs 18)  What an example for us to follow as we wait on the return of our Lord!!  " For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God.  Therefore, my dear sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain."  (1 Thess 4:16, 1 Corin 15:58, )
Take up your spiritual armor, Watch and Pray!!

The link to the video-session 3  click here

We talked alot about guarding our hearts tonight.  I remembered back to the second video when Kelly said that when we are a part of a culture, we start to look like that culture!  Is this bad or good?
What do you do when fear creeps in?
What is the best team you have been a part of.  Was it of varying ages/cultures? Did your faith grow?        


**Helpful Information taken from Warren Wiersbe's book - Be Determined- Nehemiah                  

What Has God Put In Your Heart?

Hello Sisters of Scripture!

Some might ask, "Why do you do a summer study?  There's no time...summer is too busy."  I say, we do a summer study to continue to be 'found' by God.  Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. James 4:8

We enjoyed our 2nd session on Wednesday!!  We started with a praise and worship song, click here, then reviewed the week of homework, watched our video lesson 2, answered questions from the video and closed with a prayer together.  The link and a few words about the video are below. :)

In Day1 Kelly took us through a brief history of Jeruselum before Nehemiah felt the need to return to rebuild.  It's easy to have a heart that breaks for matters that personally affect us, but how many of our hearts can break for others?

As Kelly took the time to really look at Nehemiah's prayer, (Neh 1:5-11) in Day 2 and 3 of the homework, we talked a lot about prayer.  Nehemiah praised our God of Heaven, Yahweh, our Great and Awesome God and one that never fails in love.  It's this great unfailing love and goodness that propels us to love him back and then to want to confess our sins as he not only confesses his sins, but the sins of the children of Israel.  Nehemiah then intercedes in prayer for his Jewish brothers and sisters.  We are reminded that praying for others is an honor and divinely attaches us to one another!!  Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.  Col 4:2

Nehemiah then prays 4 months before he approaches the King about what is in his heart to do!!  As we sometimes fear what God is trying to put in our hearts to do, so did Nehemiah.  It's not always easy following God's plan to grow us!!  We just have to ask for wisdom and guidance and have the perserverance and patience to wait.....  He will always answer us.

When Nehemiah does ask the King for his blessing, I love that he chose a time when the Queen was present too. :)  He could have been killed for approaching the throne of Persia!  Surely God was softening the King's heart.  Nehemiah approached the King with great faith and boldness, just as we are to approach our Father.  We can be confident that we will always be welcomed to His throne. :))
1 John 3:20-21

Kelly invites us to follow God outside ourselves.  Consider the needs that surround us and listen closely to what breaks our hearts.  A broken heart is often the very thing God uses to restore the broken.  My question to you~Who is the broken?  Is it the served or the server??

You can find the video here. You won't want to miss this one! I'm reminded of James 2:18 ~"Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works."  We saw Kelly's sister in the video serving those in the Amazon.  She says her life has never been the same after she discovered how "selfish her life was."  Some of us wish for a checklist of how we can live for God and less for ourselves.  I don't have that, but maybe just a small prayer.  "God, what can I do to serve you today?"

Blessings

Yay!  Session one of our Nehemiah study is a wrap!!  The room was buzzing with excitement for our summer study.  We are excited to see how God will work in our lives through the story of Nehemiah.

We started out last night getting to know each other with a fun ice-breaker.  Next we talked about our hopes for this study.  What are your hopes???  Many of us hope to gain a more compassionate heart filled with joy and hope just like Nehemiah's.  Others hope to see more clearly what God has planned for their lives.  Well, I hope that you'll persevere throughout the summer in this study as we grow together and who knows where God will take us?!

Nehemiah is Kelly Minter's study from the 'Living Room Series'.  Normally these studies have recipes in the books to try out as this one does.  We will be bringing our favorite dishes to the very last session on August 1st, so get to cooking!! 

During each day of our homework, we'll have a discussion and a personal question to answer.  We'll be going over the discussion questions on Wednesday nights, as well as questions from the video.

Kelly's session 1 video that we watched was great!!  I love how she'll be interviewing someone each week.  To download this video and watch it click here  You won't be sorry.

Discussion questions from the video:
1.  What does your heart break for?  Where could it be more tender?
2.  How did it affect you to learn that Nehemiah heard about the Jews' suffering while living in a Persian Resort?
3.  What about Gloria's interview struck you the most?  How did she inspire, challenge, encourage you?

Feel welcome to leave comments, hopes or just thoughts.

Summer Study Announcement!!

We are so excited to announce the summer study............(drum roll)......Nehemiah, A Heart That Can Break~ by Kelly Minter!! Nehemiah's heart was so broken for those in need that he left the comfort of his Persian palace to help them. Like Kelly's other studies in the Living Room Series, you'll find authentic Bible teaching, recipes, music selections, and a relational approach. This Bible study includes seven video sessions and real-life ways to put feet to your faith.  Check out the video!!

We will meet on Wednesday nights at Grace Avenue 7PM starting June 13th - August 1st(excluding July 4th)~childcare is available.   The cost to attend the study at Grace Avenue~Gathering room is $16(videos included).  I will have books available at the first session.  If you are unable to come to a session or more, the blog is a way to keep us all connected throughout the summer!!  Just come here each week for a study update, discussion questions, fun recipes and songs, and download each of Kelly's videos for just $2.99.  Leave comments too!!  Invite a friend or relative that is near or far to participate either face to face or on the Sisters of Scripture blog!! Participate as a Sunday School Class or small group together!!  www.sistersofscripture.blogspot.com 

To read more about the study, or to purchase the Nehemiah member book for $12.95 at  www.lifeway/kellyminter.com   I will have copies available at the first session too.  To sign up~ please email Janell Taylor ~ mctayloh@att.net 
Don't forget to subscribe to this blog (over to the right hand side) to receive each study update. :)))