February 4

George Lai opened today with scripture from John 1:1-14

George reminds us that James Chuck created The Gathering and he intended for us to learn (memorize) some scripture. It would be the basis and the foundation for our group.

First Matthew identifies Jesus as a descendent of Abraham. Jesus is a jewish person. Then Luke tells us that Jesus is not just a jewish person but is a human being. He traces the genealogy as far back to Adam when God created man. People argued, that can't be right...but John writes much later and says Jesus is not just a human being...he is God.  He begins his Gospel, similar to the Old Testament....

1. In the beginning was the word

2. And The word was with God

3. And The word was God

4. And The word became flesh

4. And he lived among us.

Because of these verses, the early church struggled for 100's of years.."how can God create / become man?"....George will follow up as to why...the church struggled with this...as we continue learning this verse.

Wendy Quan takes the podium and discusses Linda's sermon from Luke 24:13-35 and titles it 

"Reflections on Detours Ahead." 

Wendy covered a lot of material from Linda's 4 part series.  Here is a very brief summary of some of the highlights from her lesson.

Key points from her speak:

• Wendy reads the scripture and breaks it down and talks about the Promised Land

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• Jesus joins two men walking to Emmaus who were previously discussing their disappointments and problems that they did not even recognize Jesus when he joined them. 
• The men were hoping that Jesus would redeem Israel and to rescue them. They lost hope when Jesus died.
• They knew the tomb was empty but didn't understand that Jesus had risen.
• They didn't believe the women who witnessed seeing him.
• When the men expressed their frustration Jesus suggested they read the Bible to help them.
• They felt a change after reading the Bible and later recognized Jesus after they saw him breaking the bread with his disciples.
• He then disappeared.
• From there, they spent time in the temple, and continued to praise God.

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• Being blind to Jesus's presence doesn't mean he isn't here.  (Even though we don't see him, he is actually in our lives and he is working)
• We need a personal relationship. (but experiencing relationships with one another is what binds us together as Christians, this is how we can build a personal relationship with God)
• God will appear to us in surprisings ways. ( Wendy shared an image of a bonsai tree. A bonsai tree in the winter looks dead. In the spring, it begins to blossom and becomes beautiful). She continues to discuss random/impossible situations, such as the fires, gun violence and other natural disasters---she asks -- what comes out of these situations? People COME together...God is there.
• The two travelers were surprised (spoke sarcastically to Jesus) when (Jesus) the stranger knew nothing about Jesus's death. (A reminder to be kind and not be sarcastic in tempting situations).

Circling back to FCBC - - - "We are on a detour which is ending when Sebastian Ong becomes our leader. You are on the verge of entering the Promised Land of ministry, but find that our ways of worship and doing church are dramatically changing.  This detour is scary because it requires doing things differently.

Final notes:

Remember that when you find yourself on a detour, Jesus is there.

In spite of all the bumps on the road, Jesus is always there.