Healing of the Paralytic II

Hi Everyone

Great class last week, with 17 of us Bible studying the story of the healing of the paralytic. Thanks, Laura, for great facilitation. We used most of the time in class for small group discussion, answering our five questions: What does the story tell me about me? What does the story tell me about God? What does the story tell me about my relationship with God? and . . . What will I do?

I appreciated the sharing in our corner; and the opportunity to ponder those questions. For me, the part of the story that kept drawing my eye was when Jesus forgave the man's sins. I'm sure God is telling me I have further to go in fully understanding that amazing love, for myself. What I will seek to do is fully accept that unconditional love; an internal, attitude "do". Relaxing a bit more this week in the reality of God's delight in me (and you), knowing sins within and without me are taken care of by Jesus Christ's love -- what a wonderful experience. Laura and I hope each of you are finding new closeness to Christ as you "do" what God is leading you to do through this Bible study.

For this week -- we will begin a study of Jesus' great message, presented in Matthew chapters 5, 6, and 7, and in Luke.6:17-46. Please read through this material prior to class; no need for in depth study, just a quick scan with an eye to subject matter and any particular differences that easily stand out. We'll begin class with a short overview, comparing the contrasting the versions, then proceed to more in-depth study in smaller groups.

New participants are always welcome, so feel free to invite anyone you may think would enjoy and benefit from this class and study.

As always, class notes are also posted at www.stpaulpastor.blogspot.com. Feel free also to refer your friends, family and acquaintances to this site, whether or not they can or wish to come to class on Sunday. By the way, all the notes from last year's study "The Old Testament Made Easy" are also archived and available at this blog site.

God bless & look forward with excitement to being with you on Sunday

Dan and Laura