The Drive

1.) Tonight in the teaching we talked about some of the ways discord beings. Among those listed were disunity of conviction or mind (doctrinal division), church preferences, sexual win or any other kind of deliberate sin and trusting wordly wisdom. What are some other ways you've seen discord sown in church communities? 
*Distraction- when someone gets distracted easily. They can sometimes distract others. For example, the preacher is preaching, but one person is too focused on looking at their phone. They show their friend next to them a text they received and then their friend giggles, which can cause the people around them to be curious about what they're looking at. So instead of one person being distracted.. it can spread to the whole congregation and nobody is listening to the sermon, which can cause people to start skipping sermons.
*Worry- when someone is worried that they are not getting enough attention from church members. They can start judging others or persecuting Christians by claiming that they're not "real" Christians. They can use their words to bring doubt in the minds of others, which brings gossip and breaks people away from the church.
*Confusion- when someone doesn't understand a sermon. Instead, of reading the Holy Bible and seeking counseling from Christian leaders.. they can try to confuse others by making their weakness a good thing. For example, the sermon is about tithing and a person is confused on why they have to give their money to the church. They tell the Christians around them that churches shouldn't ask for money because it says in the Bible that we shouldn't be slaves to money. Then, some people start listening to that person and leave the church or stop giving their money to the church. 

2.) Why do you think discord is so natural to us? What makes fighting against discord so difficult?

I think it can be natural to us because rather than focusing our eyes to God and our ears to God. We listen to wordly emotions, which develop to our own emotions. It is a challenge to be a sore thumb in a world. Living in the hand of God can be viewed by worldy people "living under a rock." Christian media isn't what is popular, isn't what worldy people want to talk about. One rule nonbelievers like to live by is religion should never be talked about. So instead of reading the Holy Bible, listening to Christian music, reading Christian articles, trying to praise God in every conversation we have, etc. We tend to do what the nonbelievers do.. listen to the same music (radio station), watch the same shows and movies, go to where they hang out (clubs, bars, parties), etc. Then, it is easy to have the same attitude that nonbelievers have- "entertain me or I'm out." Instead of having the attitude of "Okay, Lord, what are you going to say to me through this Pastor that works for you?" For example, a Christian drives up into the church jamming to Katy Perry. Singing, "I got the eyes of tiger, a fighter, dancing through the fire.." They might walk in the church doors with a attitude of "I'm so smart and people always want to mess with me, so I'm ready to always fight." Another Christian drives up into the church jamming to Beyonce. Singing, "When you lose the one you wanted cause he's taken you for granted and everything you got destroyed.." They might walk in the church doors with a attitude of "I'm so depressed. I can't believe my ex hurt me. Every man is the same." Both Christians minds are filled with distraction before they walk in the church doors and even after they walk out the church doors because they don't tune to God. Now, a Christian drives up into the church jamming out to Z 88.3 or G106.3 listening to "God's not dead. He's surely alive. He's living on the inside roaring like a lion." They are ready to praise God more in the church. Plus their mind tends to sing songs to God everywhere they go.

3.) As a table, create your own reverse analogy of Proverbs 6:16-19 and identify the things that God likes. Share with the group the hardest two "likes" for you to live out in your daily life. 

*Proverbs 6:16-19

What the Lord Hates

16 The Lord hates these seven things:
17     eyes that show pride,
    tongues that tell lies,
    hands that kill innocent people,
18     hearts that plan evil things to do,
    feet that run to do evil,
19     witnesses in court who tell lies,
    and anyone who causes family members to fight.

The Lord loves these seven things: 
When I am humble, 
When I speak the truth,
When I have hands that help people,
When I have a heart that plans to do good things,
When I am eager to run to do good,
When I tell the government that I have witnessed that Jesus Christ really is the Son of God and the Holy Bible really does speak the truth,
and when I cause my family members to love each other. 

The two that I struggle with is being humble and not causing my family members to argue.