Serendipity, Stott, and Sheryl

I mentioned yesterday that I was preparing for the men's small group I was to lead this morning. I was deciding whether to use the study questions in the guide written by John Stott or to go with the questions in the margin of my Serendipity New Testament for Groups. Well, I decided to use some from both.
We read and discussed Romans 10. Of the Jews, Paul said, "I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge" (v. 2). A question prompting quite a bit of discussion was, "How can zeal for God sometimes get in the way of knowing him?"

"It's all about our relationship with him," Tom said. And I spoke about the tension I've often felt to establish the right balance between being and doing. Too often the focus has been on actions when character is the most important issue. We all could think of Christians so preoccupied with doing good things and so pleased with those good deeds that they think more about themselves than the Lord.

Later, we read aloud verses 14, 15:

How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!"

Stott's commentary on the text is rich:

The essence of Paul's argument is seen if we put his six verbs in opposite order: Christ sends heralds, heralds preach, people hear, hearers believe, believers call, and those who call are saved. And the relentless logic of Paul's case for evangelism is felt most forcibly when the stages are stated negatively and each is seen to be essential to the next. 

One reason I'm posting these diary entries is to look back later and remember what I've done and thought. Will I be able to say, maybe a year from now, that someone has called on the Lord because I took him or her the good news?

Today was a birthday celebration at work. My colleagues in the Magazines Department at Standard Publishing celebrated with Sheryl Overstreet, assistant editor at The Lookout, whose big day is actually Saturday. She chose Cracker Barrel for the get-together, and we had a great time. I was looking forward to the biscuits all morning!

Shawn McMullen, me, Diane Jones, Sheryl, Mike Helm,
and Jim Nieman ready to enjoy the Cracker Barrel feast.