Hey Kids,
Remember Thursday nights? Well in the next 3 weeks, we are going to attempt the impossible, 3 $2bill Bible Studies in a row. My hope - is that we can get as many folks to show up these next 3 weeks(please invite as many as you like), as well as have good conversations leading in to Christmas. So it is my job as always, to stir the pot. I would like everyone if they could, to give a description of Jesus. This description can be one that is personal to them, or one that is perceived by another. I will give you a cynical description below. The purpose of this exercise is to reveal the truth of who the Christ actually is. In the season of Christmas, there is often a televised/Wal-Mart/christian bookstore/cheesy/american feeling when it comes to how folks look at Jesus. What does the Bible say of this child, of this Messiah, of this Savior. What do you say of Jesus?For example:

The American Jesus is cheery, upwardly-mobile, energetic, and he always has a twinkle in his eye. He laughs, he chuckles, he waves, he beckons. He's a comforter, a helper, an affirmer. His arms are open wide, and everyone's always welcome. He's healthy, he's supportive, he's well-fed, he's handsome. He's the life of the party. He sits in the front row of our churches, in rapt attention. He's white, squeaky clean, and his perfectly straight teeth gleam. He tells a lot of jokes, and he always makes you feel good about yourself. He's there for you when you need him, and he just wants you to get ahead and experience a little less stress, confusion, and frustration in your life.

p.s. I am opening up the blog, so anyone can post a comment.
http://twodollarbill.blogspot.com

Agent Smith: The purpose of life Mr. Anderson is death. . .So why, Mr. Anderson? Why do you do it? Why get up? Why keep fighting? Do you believe you're fighting for something? For more that your survival? Can you tell me what it is? Do you even know? Is it freedom? Or truth? Perhaps peace? Yes? No? Could it be for love? Illusions, Mr. Anderson. Vagaries of perception. The temporary constructs of a feeble human intellect trying desperately to justify an existence that is without meaning or purpose. And all of them as artificial as the Matrix itself, although only a human mind could invent something as insipid as love. You must be able to see it, Mr. Anderson. You must know it by now. You can't win. It's pointless to keep fighting. Why, Mr. Anderson? Why? Why do you persist?

Neo: Because I choose to

faith is an open and honest expression of self and a choice. one chooses to be a follower of christ, one chooses to help, one chooses to love - it is not a "magic" tradition, but one of choice. i choose to love, to help, to care, to express - and others can either choose not to accept my choices, and they have that right. what i have found most interesting in my faith walk is that many claim to choose, but few have taken the steps to truly choose.

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Just to let you know what is up for the next 2 Thursday nights, we will be showing the movie Saved! . Tomorrow night (Oct. 14th) @ 6:00PM we will be showing it for the first time at Grant's house. If you need directions, Grant's # 642-9041 We will also be showing it next Thursday (Oct. 21st) at Andy and Shannon's @ 6:00PM The bulk of our discussion will be next week.

If you would like to find out more about the movie go to www.savedmovie.com
Also, I would like to post a question on here for everyone to respond to. If you could, respond on http://twodollarbill.blogspot.com If you can't respond on the BLOG email me.

QUESTION:Discomfort is better than comfort. That is a hard lesson to learn when it comes to growing your faith in God. Can you think of a moment in your life where you learned and grew from discomfort?

P.S. Bring your favorite Halloween candy on the 21st.
be God's
Andy

I want to thank all of you for praying for my dad. He is recovering and God totally has him in His arms! We are back, and trying to get back in the groove! We hope to see you Thursday @ 6PM, oh yea, we're having pancakes!

Something I read this week,
"I recalled a Sunday morning incident on the New York City subway. The few passengers aboard were browsing their newspapers or dozing. I myself was reading when a man with several small children boarded the train and bedlam erupted. The kids ran up and down the aisle screaming and wrestling. Their father made no attempt to intervene. The elderly passengers shifted nervously. I waited patiently for the father to restore order: a gentle word of correction, a stern command, some expression of paternal authority--anything. Nothing. Finally I turned to the father and said kindly, 'Sir, perhaps you could restore order here by telling your children to come back and sit down.' 'I know I should do something,' the man replied. 'We just came from the hospital. Their mother died an hour ago. I just don't know what to do."

Just when you think you know, you don't. What you don't know is always more significant than what you know.

We are a judging people, and we think we have the right to push God off the judgement seat, when we neither have the knowledge nor authority to do so. We have hardened hearts, hearts of stone, by what this world gives us. All those people who suck, that let you down, has made you callous. That is the Poser in us, who doesn't want us to be hindered by the hurting around us.

I pray that on Thursday nights, we attempt the impossible, in the way of making our hearts not of stone, but of flesh.

"Compassion leads to forgiveness when we understand where our enemy cries. . . . Stone hearts become warm flesh when we learn where the outcast weeps--and not a minute sooner."

twodollarbill.blogspot.com

Kenny saw The Village this past week, as did I. If you haven’t seen it, that’s okay, and if you don’t want to you will get the gist of the movie Thursday night.
Quotes from the movie:
"Sometimes people don't do things because they don't want people to know they want to do them."

"I have always pictured them (the monsters) in some ways as our protectors. They have allowed us to live here, nestled amongst them in this untouched place."

People use fear as a defense, so they will not be harmed in any way. But the truth is, that fear will harm them even more, and lie to them about what is right.
Example: I know I need to go and talk to that person about what God means to me, but I am afraid that they will think I’m a religious fanatic or something. If God leads you to speak with someone, then that is the right path to take, not the one of fear.


James 515And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. 16Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. 17Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years.

It says in James that we are to confess our sins to each other. What are the advantages of that, and what fears come to your mind when you think of confessing sins to other people?
To go back to “The Village”, we don’t confess our sins and reveal truth in our lives, because we don’t want others to know we are that kind of people. The Poser in us, likes to hide!

We are running with Kenny's thought this week, there is no where to hide! 

The Poser attaches importance where there is none and puts glitter on what's least substantial to distract us from what's real and true. He feeds us reasons for not doing the right thing and a million excuses when we do wrong. If we believe The Poser's lies, it's just a matter of time till we can no longer remember the truth about our own hollowness. As John put it: "If we claim that we're free of sin, we're only fooling ourselves. A claim like that is errant nonsense(bullcrap)."

One of my most epic battles in life is the battle for me! I have been the biggest liar to myself, and have convinced ME of a lot of things that weren't true. I struggled a lot in my college days with failure, and I was convinced back then that I couldn't do much. My reaction to all that dishonesty and failure was that, I never lived for today, I was always in the mode of some other time and space, sort of like a black hole. The battle for my soul was being won by sin, because I didn't live my life one day at a time. I was the Poser of Posers!

Rachel's question: "Sometimes it just seems like being a poser is not something that we are able to overcome. I know I am always going to sin and fall short. But does that mean I will forever be a poser?"

What do you think? Is there hope? We talked some about grace last week, and hopefully you looked in to the story of the Prodigal Son. Do you have some days where you fall in that pit, do unspeakable things, and feel like a fake? Depressed yet? Know that the battle for your soul is raging right now, and you may read this and say, big deal. I pray, and so should you, that you listen to only one voice, His!

To get in to a discussion about being a poser, one must also talk about grace. Let me illustrate that with this quote -
"Instead of being stunned by the extravagance of God's love, many days I just expect it. In place of heartfelt gratitude for the sheer, unearned abundance of God's gifts, I'm often gripped by an arrogant satisfaction in my accomplishments and the false security of spiritual superiority." Brennan Manning

Nothing matters, but God. Without Him, there is no love, and there is no us, because nothing matters if there is no God. So if you are convinced, that He is real, then you must also be convinced that your life is not your own. We are posers, because we think we deserve God and all His goodness, and we move on trying to look good at being the 'blessed'. Posers are the one's God despises, because we try to look like the very thing God created us not to be, unhumble nonservants.

Revelation 3:16 But since you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spit you out of my mouth.

be Rare

Andy

Since we didn't really get in to anything last night, I thought I would post some things that we could start digging in to.

Does everyone know what a Poser is? It's basically someone who pretends to be something they are not. (all the time!) Do you know any poser Christians out there? Those who are trying to look and sound like faithful followers, but you know that that isn't who they really are?

Well like a lot of our discussions in the past, we have been looking outward at things that bother us about Christianity, the Church, and even more so Church people. This is NOT going to be one of those discussions! When I ask the question 'Do you know any poser Christians out there?' Your answer should be yes, ME! We are in a constant battle for who we really are, who God created us to be, and we let pride, habitual sin, envy, the kitchen sink push us farther away from who we really are. We all have a fake self that the world gets to see more than the real. The reason we show our fake selves is because we want people to like us.

I will stop there, but this is where you start. What are your Poser thoughts? Do you agree? Would you like to put in your 2 cents?

The U.S. two dollar bill ($2) is a denomination of U.S. currency. The two dollar banknote is still one of the least-common denominations of U.S. currency. Because of its rarity, Americans remain remarkably superstitious about spending it, which further decreases its circulation. It is in fact so rare that cash registers and other money-handling machinery (such as vending machines) do not accommodate it at all. Many Americans have never held or spent one.

What we are trying to do on Thurday nights, is to be uncommon as the $2 dollar bill. Many of our peers are looking for something authentic, and we want to offer them something real, and let them know that the grace of our Heavenly Father is cheap,(cheaper than $2 dollars) it is free. We want to put superstitions to rest, and increase the circulation of sold out warriors.

It is rare, to come across a $2 dollar bill, but it is even more rare to find a true disciple of Christ. Are you looking for something real? You've heard of this God, but you just don't know, don't understand, don't have the time, don't want to go there(again!?) Are you tired of people being something that they are not! So is God, but He still wants to hear from you, He still wants your heart, and He knows you aren't perfect.

Join us on Thurday nights, 6PM for a $2dollar Bible Study

Just to let everyone know what is up!  We are making this Blog available to everyone who wants to be keep our conversations going, that come from our BS(bible Study) via the web!  If you are visiting, would like access to posting on this Blog, please email Andy -  shoogerbear@hotmail.com