Life in and around S.S.F.

Here is another one I’ve written. I haven’t done it yet so I don’t know how it will go over with people.

God’s Diet Plan

Q: What are some strange and/or extreme diets that you have tried or heard about?

Atkins, Grapefruit, South Beach, others…

Today we are going to look at different diets people have had in the Bible.

Disclaimer: These examples are not intended to approve of or condemn anyone’s eating regimen. Please consult the advice of your medical professional before beginning any change of eating regimen.

Genesis 3:1-3            This is called the taboo diet. If you stay away from just this one food, you tell yourself you’ll be alright.

Q: What food is your downfall? Once you start you just can’t stop. Cheesecake, chips and dip, Chunky Monkey ice-cream.

Q: Why doesn’t this work? We find new “downfall foods” because we are trying to satisfy a craving not actual hunger.

Genesis 16:1-16         The “What is it?” diet.

Q: What kind of strange food has been part of a weight loss plan? Maybe you never ate it before trying your new diet. Grass extract, fish oil, chicken tendons?

I Samuel 14:24-26     The Piggyback diet. King Saul’s army took an oath through pressure. They piggybacked onto Saul’s outrageous declaration made in an attempt to get a specific goal.

Q: Have you ever tried a diet because it worked for someone else? “Hey, they lost weight by trying this, maybe it will work for me.”

Q: How about the fad diets? Why don’t they work?

A: Someone else’s conviction. They are tried out of desperation, grasping at straws trying to find something, anything that will get results.

Matthew 3:1-6          The “ Nothing But“ diet. (It would be fun to get locust or grasshoppers from a pet store to dare someone to eat)

Q: Anyone ever try Jenny Craig or similar plan that restricted what you ate? How do you handle eating out, lunch meetings, Genentech in general, BBQs, vacation travel?

These don’t seem to fit into everyday life. It seems to me that someone else is controlling the decision making for portion size and content.

Acts 23:12-15           The “Hunger Strike” diet.

These diets (oaths or decisions) are made out of anger or hatred. They are emotionally based instead of thoughtful, prayerful planning.

Q: How long do you think they lasted?

Paul was never captured and killed by them.  Do you think any of them actually starved themselves to death?

I Corinthians 10:30-31        The Bible teaches us that we should eat and drink to the glory of God. We’ve had some fun looking at this. In reality, God wants us to enjoy our lives here on earth and food is part of his blessings to us.

I Timothy 4:7-9                 We can exert a lot of our time, energy and passion trying to get our bodies to look the way we want them too. There is some value to that. However, there is more value putting time, energy and passion into our relationships with God and people. How is your spiritual health these days? Are you spiritually fit and ready when it comes time to forgive, resist temptations, remain calm during crisis, and trust that God loves you and is maturing you?

Diets, working out and exercise have better results when you have a companion. It’s the same way with spirituality. We need friends in our lives to help us. Get some help to get spiritually fit. Attend church, have personal Bible Studies, pray together.

Matthew 4:4                      Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.

I haven’t really posted much in regards to spiritual topics so I thought of my recent Bible Talks I’ve written. Bible Talk is supposed to be just a group of friends hanging out. The leader just needs to guide the discussion to remain on topic. Once people start throwing out stories it can easily move in weird directions. The leader tactfully brings it back around. So grab a Bible and look up these verses. Be a little familiar with it and prepare you own stories so it gives time for other people to think of something to share. This is one I entitled Promises, Promises. Please let me know if you looked up the verses yourself and what you thought of it.

Promises, Promises

How would you explain to a child what a promise is?

How would you explain a broken promise? Would you call some of them lies?

What kind of promises have people made to you?

• Wedding vows
• Boss: “This should be really easy. It should only take a few hours.”
• Kids: “If you buy me this, I promise I won’t complain about chores.”
• Spouse: “Ill take out the trash in a minute.” “I’ll clean the bathroom this weekend.”

What promises have people broken?

            All of them!!

Why do we make promises?

• Make others feel good.
• Make ourselves feel good.
• Manipulate someone else to do something.
• Get out of trouble. “God if you do this, I’ll go to church every Sunday.”

Here are some promises that God makes to us in the Bible. (Assign each verse to someone and have read one after the other)

            John 15:7,  Mark 11:24, I Cor 10:13, II Peter 1:4, Romans 8:28, Matthew 11:28-30

 What do you think about all those? Do you believe or don’t believe them?

What makes them powerful?

•  God said them

What makes them weak?

•  We feel like God breaks them

Genesis 15:1-7 God promises Abraham a family

Genesis 16:1-3 Abraham tries to make it happen his own way

Genesis 16:4-6 I just threw this in there… Maybe we can talk about it next time.

Genesis 17:15-16 He’s 99, still no kids, what about that mighty nation God promised?

Genesis 18:9-12 Again with the kids, will it ever happen?

Genesis 21:1-3 Finally, God fulfills his promise. Hey, remember the promise of Kings? What’s up with that?

Matthew 1:2, 16 How powerful is that? God took how many years to fulfill his promise to Abraham. Abraham asked for a son, God gave him a King, and us a Savior and more.

Remember all the promises we read? They are all true. They may take some time for us to mature and eventually believe, but they are all true!!

II Corinthians 1:20 In fact there are many more promises. Get together with some others to find out what they are.

Was doing pretty well for a while there. I lost A high flush to full house and got knocked out of the tourny. I ended up 39th. Because of rebuy I was into the pot $6.00. 39th paid $7.39 for a net profit of $1.39.

The great thing about poker is that it’s mental toughness and not brawn. Even some old guy can win at poker.

Can’t let T have all the fun… or all the $$$

For those of you that read my blog, T_Overland is a much better player than I am. I make too many bad calls and have a really hard time beating him. Here is the most recent example. Although he took second, he was in first most of the game.

Played a few tables tonight. Finally won one. Played against T_Overland again a couple of times. He’s getting better. See how he ended up in fifth? It’s a whole lot funner to have a buddy to chat with. Even if I loose, I enjoy the time.

Tomorrow is the big Birthday party. I’ll put in a link to the pictures once my wife uploads them. She spent a couple of hours making a picture board for the party too. Already had a couple of cancellations. My mom showed up a lot earlier tonight that we thought. She watched Cars with the girls so it gave me some time to play. I’m really glad she came out from Florida to be at the party. Maybe I’ll get on the microphone and say something and she’ll start crying…