FOR YOUR SMALL GROUP 35 November 6–12 In what areas of your life have you been asking God for “proof” before you will believe? ■ In your faith relationship with Jesus, are you moving toward Him or away from Him? ■ Explain your answer. Fri/Sat/Sun—November 10–12•Quit Stalling As God’s co-workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain. For he says, “In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation. (2 Corinthians 6:1–2) Several years ago, I met semi-regularly for Bible study with a small group of younger guys. We had one skeptic among us. We’d talk about something in the group, and he would always say, “Yeah, but...” Finally one day I challenged him. “You own your own business, right?” He said he did. “How many decisions do you make every day with just 51 percent of the information?” He didn’t answer, but I continued. “You have way more than 51 percent of the evidence you need to believe in Jesus, so you either need to believe or not believe. This deal of sitting on the fence and using all these questions—you’re just stalling. Make the call, man!” He stared at me and finally said, “Fair enough.” A few weeks later, this man started telling us about meeting with another businessman. “This guy said something religious, so I said something religious. Pretty soon, the guy asked me, ‘Are you a Christian?’” We all held our breath as he continued, “I said, ‘Are you asking if I believe that Jesus is real and that He died and rose again and paid for my sins? If that’s what you’re asking, then yeah—I’m a Christian.” We all have doubts and questions. Belief is not a line to jump over once all our questions are answered. It’s a continuum challenging us to give our questions to Jesus, so we can move toward Him rather than away from Him. WEEK Week 5 In what areas of faith have you been saying, “Yeah, but...”? Are you ready to give those questions to Jesus so you can move forward in your faith relationship? Explain your answer. Daily Reading: Ezekiel 21:1–26:21, Hebrews 10:1–11:16, Psalm 108:1–110:7, Proverbs 27:12–14
20514 Man in Mirror
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