{"id":7935,"date":"2015-07-15T09:39:29","date_gmt":"2015-07-15T13:39:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/?p=7935"},"modified":"2015-07-15T09:39:29","modified_gmt":"2015-07-15T13:39:29","slug":"lifelong-questions-21212","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/?p=7935","title":{"rendered":"Lifelong Questions (2\/12\/12)"},"content":{"rendered":"

On February 12, 2012, Rev.\u00a0 John Groth (retired military chaplain) visited our church and gave the sermon during both worship services.\u00a0 After the 2nd service he stuck around and met with the Men’s Fellowship group.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Notes on his sermon were recently discovered, so the below post was written.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Rev. Groth’s message was on 2 Corinthians 8:1-8.\u00a0 Rev. Groth noted six “Lifelong Questions” that this passage brings out.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Below is the text of 2 Corinthians 8:1-8 (using Eugene Peterson’s The Message paraphrase), interspersed with the questions Rev. Groth raised…<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

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1\u00a0 Now, friends, I want to report on the surprising and generous ways in which God is working in the churches in Macedonia province. <\/span><\/p>\n

2 Fierce troubles came down on the people of those churches, pushing them to the very limit. The trial exposed their true colors: They were incredibly happy, though desperately poor. The pressure triggered something totally unexpected: an outpouring of pure and generous gifts. <\/span><\/p>\n

Question #1:\u00a0 What overflows out of my situation?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

3 I was there and saw it for myself. They gave offerings of whatever they could \u2014 far more than they could afford! \u2014 <\/span><\/p>\n

Question #2:\u00a0 What are you doing beyond your ability?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

4 pleading for the privilege of helping out in the relief of poor Christians.<\/span><\/p>\n

Question #3:\u00a0 What are YOU pleading for?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

5 This was totally spontaneous, entirely their own idea, and caught us completely off guard. What explains it was that they had first given themselves unreservedly to God and to us. The other giving simply flowed out of the purposes of God working in their lives. <\/span><\/p>\n

6 That’s what prompted us to ask Titus to bring the relief offering to your attention, so that what was so well begun could be finished up. <\/span><\/p>\n

Question #4:\u00a0 What new beginnings have YOU made?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

7 You do so well in so many things \u2014 you trust God, you’re articulate, you’re insightful, you’re passionate, you love us \u2014 now, do your best in this, too.<\/span><\/p>\n

Question #5:\u00a0 What do YOU excel in?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

8 I’m not trying to order you around against your will. But by bringing in the Macedonians’ enthusiasm as a stimulus to your love, I am hoping to bring the best out of you.<\/span><\/p>\n

Question #6:\u00a0 Who’s holding YOU accountable?\u00a0 Who has your permission to ask you the tough questions?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

+\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 +\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 +\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 +\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 +\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 +\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 +<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0Click Here<\/a><\/strong><\/span> to view other sermons.<\/p>\n

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On February 12, 2012, Rev.\u00a0 John Groth (retired military chaplain) visited our church and gave the sermon during both worship services.\u00a0 After the 2nd service he stuck around and met with the Men’s Fellowship group. Notes on his sermon were recently discovered, so the below post was written. Rev. Groth’s message was on 2 Corinthians […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6729,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[90],"class_list":["post-7935","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sermons","tag-purpose"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7935","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7935"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7935\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7937,"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7935\/revisions\/7937"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}