What is God's promise?

So, Monday was an interesting day for many of us. Between car accidents, hailstorms, crazy schedules, only 2 out of the group reading the 3rd chapter (some people had realistic reasons ...lol... uh ...mine was semi-valid), it made for an eventful study. Luckily, the study questions I write out each week are always designed to be easily interacted with, by people of whom may not read the assigned chapter. A little perk for occasional visitors.

One of the overall points that Donald made in this chapter, we found to be, was the sometimes misrepresentation we receive, or in some cases give, of what a Christ centered life will "gain" us. We seem to market this Jesus idea and add incentives to it. Many times, these add-on incentives are in the form of "fixes" or solutions to the troubles we experience in the world. There are promises made to prospective followers of Jesus that have nothing to do with the message that Jesus brought. These empty promises usually have detrimental effects on the recipients and form a very false sense of hope for their future as well as the outcome of the current problems these solutions are "supposed" to address.

Here are some questions we went over in the discussion.

Questions for CH 3

1. What makes it difficult for you to believe God could do something magical in your life?
   
   
2. From the Bible, what magical things did Jesus do for people?
   
   
3. What kinds of things have been marketed to you as solutions to your problems? Have they truly “fixed” the problems? Have they really brought you closer to God?
   
   
4. What do you think of the following phrase, “When you start following Christ, everything will be ok”.
   
   
5. Miller talks about “God selling something he wanted”. What was it that drew you to God? What did you think God could do for you?
   
   
6. Think about key people in your life that have influenced (bad or good) your concept of God and who have brought you to the point of wanting to follow him. How did they market Jesus to you? Did they make any promises?
   
   
7. What does God promise to those that follow him?
   

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