As I am hard at work on these lessons for both Branson PTP and Sevierville PTP, it occurs to me that, when I finish presenting some of these, you will know all about next year’s Digging Deep topic and we will be very busy getting the study materials in your hands. While my mind is very cluttered and “The God of More” is still a big piece of that good clutter, I’m also thinking about the new study we will kick off on September 1st.
Leading up to that day, we will review and recognize the finishers in Branson on July 16th and July 18th, respectively. I’m excited to see you “westerners” there. Then on July 17th, we will review “The God of More” in Sevierville. We will post this review on the Digging Deep Facebook page. But the BIG date is Saturday, August 15th, when we will, at 12:30, come together in Sevierville to reveal the topic of the upcoming study. We will immediately get that one to you via the FB page. I am praying you can love it as much as I do. He is so, so good!
Then we will have two short weeks to try and get hard copies to those who want them for the new study. There will be some swag….that’s just fun. But remember, no one has to pay to study. There will, as always, be a free download of the study posted the same day as the announcement is made. I am very blessed that Hannah Colley is helping me get the materials ready and Lindsey VanHook is uploading them to the site: www.thecolleyhouse.org.
Yesterday, I stumbled on a little group, online, of folks who call themselves “deconstructionists”. What they mean by that is that they have abandoned the faith they had once built. They have walked proudly away from the church. It was the saddest part of my day. This particular page had several mentions of Digging Deep and the comments, of course, were extremely critical. Someone on the page asked exactly “What do you mean? What are Diggers?”
The answer was there, too. “They send cards, prolifically.”
I’m surely happy that we do sometimes send cards, when a digger is gravely ill or to a family of a digger who has gone on to glory. But how very sad to be so bitter about some entity like Digging Deep when one doesn’t even know what we primarily do, In fact, if one decided to be a part of DD, for just one month, perhaps the antidote for such bitterness and vitriol might be ingested and life might be better. As I said, It was sad for me to see such uninformed hate being spewed, when the very object of that hate could very well be the cure for it. Bible study fosters both righteousness and unity in that holiness. I’m sad for people who have walked away from truth in bitterness. They are generally very unhappy. And, without repentance, they are lost.
Let’s stay in the book. What do you say? If you’re a digger, I know you attribute growth to the Holy Spirit through the Book of books! If you are not a digger, but a faithful student of the Bible, you are, likewise, full of hope. He is the God of More!
From chapter 10 of the current study:
Seeking the direct Word of the Lord is always the thing to do in times of decision. Today, it is
getting out the Book—the Book that is the result of all of the combined miracles that occurred from
Genesis to Revelation—that is the solution. The Book is valuable and relevant and speaks to all of
our needs, decisions, and adverse situations. People do not come to counselors and say, “My marriage
is a mess because I have followed the Word in every decision.” They come, with sorrowful problems,
because someone (or both) in the marriage has strayed from the teachings of the Word. It is the same way in all areas of our lives and relationships.