Hi Everyone,

Sorry that this information is going out so late in the week. As mentioned last Sunday, we will not be at Ed's house this Sunday (July 31), and we are instead meeting at the following address.

POOL PARTY THIS SUNDAY! So bring your bathing suits. We will be grilling out, playing in the pool, and playing some kids games. If anyone has cornhole, that would be a welcome addition!

5340 Reasor Ct.

Virginia Beach, VA 23464

Click here for the map

This is where we will be meeting for the near future, so don't show up at Ed's wondering where everyone is. It is my (Mark's) parents' house and where we are currently living.

See you there!

-Mark

Well, This Is Embarrassing...

We figured we'd give you a chance to both help us out and to have some fun at our expense!

Check out this link for further info:

Embarrassing Moments!

The deadline for entry is April 1 which means whatever you do must be done before that deadline only giving you a few days to take advantage of this offer. Come up with your great ideas of how to embarrass us and put them into action! Have fun with this! :o)

Love,

Ed & Whit

Colossians 1:9-10

Here are the two verses for this week. We will regroup tomorrow to decide if we need a catchup week or some sort of incentive!

Colossians 1:9-10 NASB

9. For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10. so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;



1 - 10 all together...
Colossians 1:1-10 NASB

Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father.
We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have for all the saints; because of the hope laid up for you in heaven, of which you previously heard in the word of truth, the gospel which has come to you, just as in all the world also it is constantly bearing fruit and increasing, even as it has been doing in you also since the day you heard of it and understood the grace of God in truth; just as you learned it from Epaphras, our beloved fellow bond-servant, who is a faithful servant of Christ on our behalf, and he also informed us of your love in the Spirit.
For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;

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Group Group This Sunday: Meeting changes and info...

Well, it's been a long time coming but... Group Group is finally here. That is to say, all of our small groups will be meeting together as a large group THIS SUNDAY.

Here's the specs:

Where: at VBCC in the Youth Lounge

When: 5:00 PM

What: Large Group Dinner and Worship Gathering

Who: You!

Mark needs some guys to help lug some tables upstairs to set things up for dinner at 4:30. Contact him if you can get there early to help.

Sarah is coordinating food and can use some volunteers to help supply food... the more the better. Contact her if you can help with bringing food for me... I mean, us to eat.

Looking forward to worshipping together with all of you.... and pass this info along to others just to make sure we've got the bases covered and as always encourage others to fellowship as well...

PS: Keep an ear out for a possible upcoming camping trip/retreat and musical trip to Winter Jam. Ryan's gonna help facilitate these events...

Colossians 1:5-6, 7-8

Well done to those who were quoting the first 6 verses of Colossians last week. Let it be a challenge to the rest of us to keep up.

Just to catch us up, here are last weeks verses (5-6)

5 ...because of the hope laid up for you in heaven, of which you previously heard in the word of truth, the gospel6 which has come to you, just as in all the world also it is constantly bearing fruit and increasing, even as it has been doing in you also since the day you heard of it and understood the grace of God in truth;...

And here are this weeks verses (7-8)

7 ...just as you learned it from Epaphras, our beloved fellow bond-servant, who is a faithful servant of Christ on our behalf, 8 and he also informed us of your love in the Spirit.

You can do it! Verses 7 and 8 are pretty short, giving us all a chance to catch up if we have fallen behind.

Memorize, Memorize

Here are verses 1 - 4 of Colossians. The Silina group is trying to have these down by this Sunday.
See you then!

Colossians 1:1-4 NASB

Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father.
We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have for all the saints;

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Memorizing Colossians

To show some comraderie with our fellow group at the Esperat house, and because it's a great thing to memorize scripture, we are encouraging everyone to memorize Colossians together. Two verses a week should be a good challenge for us all.

Since we hadn't really decided what version we were going to use for memorizing, we will call this the first week. Here are the first two verses. (NewAmerican Standard Bible)

Colossians 1:1-2 NASB
Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father.

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Our responses to Ephesians 5: 1-2...

In response to looking the imagery and calling of verses 1 & 2 of Ephesians 5, we offered some practical actions/looks at what it would be instructing us to do.

- Be available

- Welcome interruption

- Setting aside money you were going to spend on personal pleasure to meet someone else's practical need

- Giving time to someone who is going through something

- Not necessarily having an answer to someone's issue but spending time with them praying, going to the One who is the answer... Doing this not just in the moment but over the course of time with them...

- Forgive quickly

- Providing anonymous or unrecognized acts of service

- Have dinner with neighbors

- Keeping up with one another's lives...

How might we help to motivate and hold one another accountable? or even do these things as a family/group?

Therefore, as dearly loved children be imitators of God and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Bible Reading Plan

It's not too late... Start now... Start with February and join us in reading through the Bible this year. This is a great tool that actually I have felt has added freedom in accountability and direction in reading the Bible, which is something I believe we all testify to as being valuable and necessary for our health and life...

Super Bowl Party, Sign Up!

It's time for a reunion, and we thought Super Bowl Sunday would be a great time!

Details...

Who? Silina Small Group, Colonial Small Group, and anyone you want to bring with you!

When? Sunday, February 6th at 5pm
(Kick-off is at 6:30pm, but we'll start partying early!)

Where? The Montgomery's home off of Little Neck Road
912 Lois Circle. Virginia Beach, VA 23452
H 757.340.3132 or C 843.597.3271

Please comment on this post with what type of food you'll be bringing to share! Respond by next Sunday, the 30th, so we'll know what else to buy to make sure we have a full table of dinner and munchies for everyone. Donna has two ovens and a grill that will be available to anyone.

Packers or Steelers? Predictions? :)

See you then!

Ephesians 4: 17-32 - Questions you brought to the table...

We recently looked at the second half of Ephesians 4. You were asked to come up with questions with the text in mind. You all came up with some great questions and we had some good discussion time. Though, as we often do, we had to cut it short.

Here are the questions you all came up with. I'd encourage you to look these over and walk through the scriptures and these questions further. It may seem like a long list, but you can break it up over a couple of days or scan through and pick out questions that hit you. May it be a tool though in your time/walk with God.

In no particular order:

• Do I seek approval from "gentiles"/unbelievers above God?
• Do I envy the way of the "gentiles"/unbelievers?
• Am I proud of the new self, longing for it to be the only thing residing in me?
• Am I truly ready to put aside the old self? Have I resolved to?
• Do I have methods of discipline, support, & accountability to aid me in this?
• How am I actively putting aside the old man?
• (Eph 4: 25-32) Is this easy/pleasant in the moment?
• Is it worthwhile in the end? Do I truly believe it?
• Who am I not being Christlike towards?
• What were my old ways?
• Am I ready and willing to live this way and give up my old ways? Am I committed for life?
• What examples do I have of my old ways and how they have changed by the work of the Spirit?
• Am I supposed to turn my left cheek to those who are not believers and do bad things to me?
• Am I ever tempted to say mean words in anger, be bitter and angry? What helps in these times to behave rightly?
• Why is it so easy to back to the old ways?
• What actions do I need to take to be made new again & to live in true righteousness and holiness?
• What specific ways am I living for my own pleasure or self gratification?
• What are some other scripture passages this reminds me of?
• What might life look like or how would it be different if my attitudes were made new and I put on the new righteous and holy self?
• Using this list of actions as a litmus test, do I think I'm living more like a gentile or a child of God? What would my friends, family, coworkers, or others say?
• Am I accomplishing verse 29? If not, how can I do this? What about us as a group?
• Why does it say, "Do not give the devil a foothold"?
• Give 3 reasons why I should not live like the gentiles.
• What change should occur to those who have Jesus?
• What is the new self?
• What should be done in place of falsehood?
• What's the benefit of no longer stealing?
• What should replace unwholesome words and bitterness?
• How can we help each other in accountability to not be impure or live as the gentiles?
• Is what is coming out of my mouth helpful & uplifting ?
• How can we help each other to get rid of all our rage, bitterness, malice, etc.?
• How have I been giving the devil a foothold?
• What things do I still cling to that would be considered part of the old self?
• What are things that have caused my heart to harden & how can/has Christ overcome this?
• Why do I hold onto grudges sometimes?
• How do I grieve the Holy Spirit?
• What non-physical things have I ever stolen from others?
• Have I fully put off the old self? Am I truly living in the new righteous & holy self?
• Am I still allowing deceitful desires to corrupt me?
• Am I forgiving others as Christ forgave/forgives me?
• In anger, do I sin?
• Do I build others up according to their needs?
• What am I struggling to put off?
• Do I feel separated from God? Why do I feel like this?
• My new self is created to be like God. In what ways can I work out my salvation towards this end?
• What does it mean to be made new in the attitude of God?

t crossing, i dotting

A little bit of housekeeping for the group that meets at Ed's house:

Sunday night timing...

• We continue to aim for a 5 PM start time on Sunday evenings. Help us make that happen!
• The goal for wrapping up the meeting is 6:45, and we are commited to going no later than 7 PM.

mmm. Food

• Continue coming ready to eat after the meeting. Ryan and Dawson made us venison chili last week. It was delicioso.
• If you want to get on the schedule for helping with food, email Sarah as she is keeping that schedule.

Kids Kids Kids

• We plan to start a rotation, having one person stay in with the kids each week, not just to keep them in line but also to do some activities and teaching with them. We want it to be a beneficial time for the kids too! More on this soon.

WELCOME WELCOME

Welcome to our online bulletin board. Hopefully you read the blurb at the top explaining the labels.

Please sign up for email updates on the right side of the page. It is very simple and you can unsubscribe anytime you like.

Starting now, the Silina group (Ed's house) won't be sending out our updates directly through email, but posting everything here instead.

Also please add your comments below the posts to make it more fun and interactive.

Mark

Ephesians 4 Part 1

On Sunday we looked at the first 16 verses of Ephesians 4 and had some good discussion around the unity of the body of Christ and building one another up towards Christlikeness. The format we followed in studying it was pretty loose and informal, so I don't have a helpful lesson plan or outline to post. However, I did want to jot down a few of the things that stood out to me during the preparation and discussion. Please add your comments if there are other things that you want to highlight.

• We are called to humility, gentleness and patience with one another to maintain unity and peace in body of Christ, but it is so easy to allow our pride to cause dissension between us, in a larger context (between denominations or believers of different styles) and within our own group.
• It is God's design that we are equipped by individuals in the church (apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers) that we might build up the individuals in the church towards Christlikeness. God chooses to mature us through our interaction with each other, despite the fact that we are all screw ups.
• "We are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ" If we are building one another up without pushing one another closer to Christ, then we are not accomplishing the work of the Church.

Mark Beers

Ephesians 3 Reflection Questions

Hey gang. Both our groups are going through Ephesians. This past Sunday, my group looked at Ephesians 3. I'm including the questions we started addressing in smaller groups for a continued look into the scriptures and our lives. Next week, my group will look at Ephesians 4. So, dive into the rest of the questions you weren't able to get to this Sunday and then go ahead and begin looking at Ephesians 4 as well this week. Have fun & live a life of love... loving God & loving others...

for His glory,

ed

Superheroes are popular for a number of reasons but a big part of it is that they are larger than life and the battles they face are larger than life. We are also drawn to their powers that aren’t normal “human” powers.

1. How is the dunamis power of Christ like a superpower? How does it make us in the church like superheroes?

2. The downside of the superhero image is that it is often an individualistic mindset. When you read Eph 3: 14-21 what picture does Paul paint? Is it highlighting individuals or a body/family/church? Who receives the ultimate glory?

3. Do verses like Eph 3: 10-11 make our existence, life purpose and journey, and our struggles seem “larger than life” and how so?

4. Paul prayed for the Ephesians in 3: 14-19. Look at his use of “I” and “you.” How often do you pray for others? When you do pray for others, what do you ask for in prayer? How might this and the other prayers we see Paul pray in Ephesians (& the other epistles) encourage us to pray for others?

5. Paul also prays in Eph 3: 20-21. How is this different than vs. 14-19? How is it connected to vs. 14-19? How should this permeate all of our prayers?

6. In Eph 3: 21, what are the 2 places God is said to reveal His glory?

7. Give one or two ways that God’s glory is shown in Jesus Christ.

8. Give one or two ways that God’s glory is shown in the church.

9. Why do you think God mentions these two ways to reveal His glory and not creation for the scriptures clearly state that creation also reveals the glory of God?

10. Looking at the reason that Paul was in prison and the systems & worldviews the Jews were being asked to drop in the face of Christ, are there any “systems” or “worldviews” or “practices” in your life that when faced with the gospel Christ is asking you to drop and to receive Him, His grace, and freedom in a fuller, deeper way?

11. We might think that if Jesus was with us wherever we went that our whole life would be so much better? Why? How would He impact those around you? These verses teach us that the Lord wants to live out His life through our lives. Think one specific place you would like to see more of Jesus’ power lived out in your life for the sake of others. Pray this through.

12. We are to live for God’s praise. Write down the major things you are doing in your life through the day. Are you doing these things for God’s glory? How can you more clearly do these things for His glory.

Philemon - Introduction

I'm going to try to post a synopsis of each week's Bible discussion, and I'm going back to the middle of Aug here to start from the beginning of our Philemon study.  If you'll remember, the first week (Aug 15) we basically just had the kids act out the basic story line of Philemon:

-  Paul plants church in Colossae

-  Philemon, a wealthy man, comes to faith and becomes a part of the Colossian church

-  Paul leaves to plant more churches, eventually is imprisoned in Rome.

-  Onesimus is one of Philemon's slaves.

-  Onesimus runs away (after apparently stealing from Philemon, his master) and seeks asylum in Rome.

-  Onesimus meets Paul and comes to faith in Jesus. 

-  Paul sends Onesimus back to Philemon, along with a letter, declaring Philemon free to do whatever he will with Onesimus but imploring him to send the slave back to Rome to be Paul's aid.

Also, I love this quote from John Darby on the book of Philemon:

It is a fine picture of the way in which the tenderness and the strength of the love of God, working in the heart, occupies itself with every detail wherein that love might be wounded, or that might be an occasion for its growth and manifestation. In this point of view the epistle is as important as beautiful; for this development of tender and delicate consideration in the midst of the apostle¹s gigantic labours, and of the immense truths that formed the basis of relationship between all creatures and God in Christ, gives a very peculiar character to Christianity and shews its divine nature; since He who reveals the most profound truths, and puts them in their right place in the circle of divine thought, does so as speaking of a known thing, as communicating His own thoughts; and can (being the Spirit of the God of love) fill the heart with considerations which love only can suggest, with a dignity which manifests their source, and with a delicacy of application which shews that, whatever be the grandeur of His thoughts, He is at liberty to consider everything.