{"id":3251,"date":"2021-07-28T15:07:03","date_gmt":"2021-07-28T20:07:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cheathamumc.net\/?p=3251"},"modified":"2021-07-28T15:07:03","modified_gmt":"2021-07-28T20:07:03","slug":"week-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cheathamumc.net\/index.php\/2021\/07\/28\/week-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Week 1"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"\" God\u2019s Great Passion is to Be With You<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some movies start at warp speed.  Case in point: Great murder mystery, or action movies.  From the opening scene to the end it barely let you breathe.  If you slip out for popcorn you were sure to miss something important.  And yet, people did. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This disturbs me greatly since I am a huge movie buff. Back in California, I would attend a Tuesday morning $5 Matinee once a month. In order to maximize the movie-going experience I would arrive at least 20 minutes early to make sure I got a great seat.  Never done that?  Then next time you go to a movie look around and spot the person that is in the prime seat\u2014dead middle, eye level with the center of the screen.  That\u2019s what 20 minutes early gets you, unless you go to one of the newer theaters where you purchase a specific seat. Popcorn and drink in hand, nothing will move this person from their secured spot for the duration of the movie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s where you need to be for God\u2019s story.  Its opening scene also starts with a relentless pace that doesn\u2019t let up.  The first line reads, \u201cIn the beginning God created the heavens and the earth\u201d (Genesis 1:1). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Right off the bat we find the main character in the story is not you or me.  It\u2019s God.  And the rest of The Story<\/em> will unfold out of the nature and person of this character.  Just ten words in and there is enough action to leave you breathless. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It doesn\u2019t take long to find out what God\u2019s great passion is.  Birds?  Nope.  Animals?  Not quite. Sun, moon or stars? Bright guess.  No, in Genesis 3:8 we find that God is walking in the Garden with Adam and Eve in the \u201ccool of the day.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sounds nice if you are in a hot, humid July day when it\u2019s 93\u00b0 but Feels like 102\u00b0, doesn\u2019t it?  And yet the \u201ccool of the day\u201d is not the focus.  God is, and he is near.  He is right with Adam and Eve.  And he is right here with us.  His simple vision for his creation was to spend time with them every day, to take a walk with them.<\/em>  God\u2019s supreme passion is to be with us.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of you have lived your life with the idea that God is some angry cosmic kill-joy who sits in the heavens and watches you, waiting for you to make a mistake so he can zap you.  Or, you feel he is distant and doesn\u2019t care or has simply forgotten you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But from the beginning he has shown us this is not the case.\u00a0 He wants to be with you.\u00a0 He has not forgotten you.\u00a0\u00a0 In fact, this might be the perfect time for you to go for a walk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

God\u2019s Great Passion is to Be With You Some movies start at warp speed.  Case in point: Great murder mystery, or action movies.  From the opening scene to the end it barely let you breathe.  If you slip out for popcorn you were sure to miss something important.  And yet, people did.  This disturbs me … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Week 1”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6FO0j-Qr","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cheathamumc.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3251","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cheathamumc.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cheathamumc.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cheathamumc.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cheathamumc.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3251"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cheathamumc.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3251\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3253,"href":"https:\/\/cheathamumc.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3251\/revisions\/3253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cheathamumc.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cheathamumc.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cheathamumc.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}