UWAGA! UWAGA! UWAGA!

This week our 4W’s meeting will NOT be at our normal meeting place. (Happy Constitution Day, Poland! In honor, Sweet Surrender will be closed.) We WILL be meeting at a park, talking about the word together, and maybe enjoying some ice cream later.  You don’t want to miss it.

Quick and easy:

• Who: You! And a friend!
• What: 4W’s bible study.
• Why: To talk together about life, God, and the intersection of the two.
• When: 7pm, (19.00), May 3rd.
• Where: Park Adama Mickiewicza, on ul. Fredry
• How: Meet at the park with the big fountain across from the Opera (between tram stops Most Teatralny and Fredry).

If you find something that looks like THIS, you’ve found FoF!

Pizza and sitcom social!!

 Tuesday 19th of April, a group of us gathered at the Juicy apartment of the healthy Gregory Rene, also known as Greg the Leg, for a pizza and sitcom night.. (since we have watched movies more than once, we tried something new). The turnout was amazing.. I don't know if it is Bill Cosby, the Munk, the juicy pizza, or Gregs apartment that is the people drawer to this event. Or maybe it is the the great fellowship, or Jesus :) at least, our social gatherings seems to fill a social gap in when school and other life stress ors are pushing us into a corner. It was fun to meet everybody, both new and old friends. Hope to see you all again next time :)

EVERYBODY ENJOYING PIZZA,

OUR PIZZA GOT MULTIPLIED, IN SIZE, NOT IN NUMBERS...

 

In Christ, We Have Eternal Life

Joshua

On Tuesday, Joshua, who’s one of the newest staff members at the Best Cafe in Poznań, shared with us insight on what “eternal life” means.
We started with a story that Paul addressed in his letter to the Galatians. From what we know, there were apparently some Jewish-Christian missionaries who came to try to convince the Galatian church that in order to perfect their faith in Christ they would need to be circumcised  and follow Jewish ceremonial law.
Then we read Galatians 3:1-6:

¹O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you?^(A) It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly^(B) portrayed as crucified.²Let me ask you only this:^(C) Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by^(D) hearing with faith? ³Are you so foolish?^(E) Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by^[a] the flesh?^4(F) Did you suffer^[b] so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? ⁵Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and^(G) works miracles among you do so^(H) by works of the law, or by hearing with faith—⁶just as^(I) Abraham "believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness"?

Clearly, Paul is quite upset with this idea. And his basic questions to the church there are, “How are we justified? How do we receive eternal life?”
So Joshua challenged us to think through that question for ourselves. “What are some things that the world offers us that claim to give us life but ultimately lead to brokenness?” Is life found in being a good person, accumulating money, a bigger house, a better job, the government, education, relationships, beauty, status? He made the statement, “When we say, ‘In Christ, we have eternal life,’ we are saying that it is by faith in the faithfulness of Christ,” not all the rest of that stuff!
Which leads to another question: What is eternal life?
At least two things. Firstly, the faithful will live with God beyond death! Check out Revelation 5:11-14 for a cool glimpse of what that will be like. But that’s not even the full measure of what "eternal life" means. Secondly, eternal life begins NOW! So how do we experience that here and now? What did Jesus mean when He said, "the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand" (Matt 3:2, 4:17, 10:7)? What did He mean when He said, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10)? It means we are made new creations and are no longer slaves to sin: we can take responsibility, we can be loyal, we can be free of comparing ourselves, we can have confidence, we can restore relationships, we can resist temptation, we can forgive and release bitterness, we can sacrifice in order to give to someone else, we can step out of our comfort zones.  Exciting!! Eternal life, starting now!

4 W's --> Welcome, Worship, Word, Witness

Andrew  Juice  Piotrek

What do Mickey Mouse, Queen of England, President Obama and Apostle Paul have in common?  They were the names that Andrew used to start the WELCOME for FoF on Tuesday!   He stuck small pieces of paper with a name of a famous person or character on each person’s back.  Each then had to guess the ‘famous person’ on one’s back by asking others (who could see your name but not their own!) ‘yes’ or ‘no’ questions.  It had the group mingling and smiling, that is for sure!  

Things were handed over to Juice for the WORSHIP.  Juice led us in singing songs that reminded us of the great God we serve.  Focusing on His power and His grace, the songs were a beautiful lead-in for digging into the Scripture passage of the Woman at the Well (John 4:1-26;39-42); a woman who through a conversation at a well had the eyes of her heart opened and saw the amazing grace offered through Jesus Christ.

Theresa  Karoline

Karoline and Theresa joined forces and led the discussion by asking simple questions (in this passage:  what captures your attention, what bothers you, what can we learn about God, what can we learn about man?) that brought out the beauty of this passage as we looked at Scripture together.  Some themes brought out and discussed: Jesus saw the woman without judging her-looking just at her and not her past and her present living situation; Jesus showed how He was the One who could meet her need; through Jesus, worship is no longer relevant to being in a specific location but worship is related to the state of the heart – being a worshipper in spirit and truth.  The discussion was definitely valuable and thought-provoking during the WORD time!

Amanda  Csenge  Natasha

For Natasha the WITNESS had a natural tie-in to this passage as the woman had a “God thing” to share with others.  After her conversation with Jesus, she was a changed person.  She had met with the Person who gives “water that wells up bringing eternal life.”  This spiritual water was overflowing out of her and she had to tell those around her about her meeting with the ‘Messiah’!  Natasha used this to remind us to tell our stories or our encounters with the Lord.  We can’t make people fall in love with Jesus, but we can still tell our stories and help them hear the story of a Jesus who is personal and meets us at our point of need.  Thanks to all who participated.  It was an enjoyable and thought-provoking evening!