EXTRA! Ideas for Adults – The Heart of Worship – Session 4

3 days ago 8

Date: February 9, 2025

The Benefits of Worship

The Point: We find all we need when we come to God in worship.

Get Into the Study

Share the following after discussing the opening question.

Traditionally, artificial intelligence (AI) has had difficulty perceiving optical illusions. AI-based vision systems could detect faces and objects. But show AI a classic optical illusion like Rubin’s Vase (which can be viewed either as a vase or as two men facing each other), and artificial intelligence has trouble toggling back and forth between two interpretations of the image. Now a physicist in Australia has changed that. Ivan Maksymov of Charles Sturt University used quantum mechanics to create an AI model capable of switching back and forth between two interpretations of an image—like a human brain does.

The new technology could have significant real-life consequences. A computer capable of recognizing and processing ambiguity could help humans avoid fatal errors. For instance, an airplane pilot flying through clouds can become disoriented when his brain must sort trough mixed signals to distinguish up from down. The new AI technology might someday help pilots process such ambiguity and avoid crashes. Likewise, AI might process ambiguous medical symptoms to diagnose diseases like early-onset dementia.

Life’s trials also present us with two perspectives. But analyzing them correctly does not depend on advanced intelligence, natural or artificial. Rather, it depends on believing God’s Word, which tells us to focus on Him more than the trial.

https://www.zmescience.com/future/scientists-used-quantum-physics-to-help-ai-fall-for-optical-illusions/

Get Into the Study [Option from the Advanced Bible Study Teacher Guide, p. 56]

As you discuss presidential prayers, invite the group to read the prayers on this site.

Get Into the Study (Option from Adult Leader Guide)

In advance, play a video clip or show a picture of an optical illusion. Then ask Question #1.

Study the Bible

As you discuss question 3 (point 2 on p. 117 of the Daily Discipleship Guide), share the following.

A Mississippi woman recently completed a unique project to help her meditate on God and His Word: she copied the entire Bible by hand. Tupelo-area resident Margurette Robinson, 88, said writing Scripture beat reading the morning paper.

“I’d just heard [California pastor] David Jeremiah say to copy the book of Romans,” Robinson said. “So I did that, and it was good. Then he said he’d copied the whole Bible, and I said, ‘Well, I’ll start this. I’ll go back, pick up the Gospels, and go through the New Testament. If I don’t get any farther than that, that’s good.’”

But she got much farther. Robinson considers herself an early riser and copied an average of one and a half pages per day before most of the world came alive. It took her three and a half years to complete the entire Bible. “The Bible is a very convicting book,” she said. “I’d memorized Scripture before, but as far as knowing the background of the Scripture, my daughters knew much more about it than I did. Doing this was convicting. It’s been such a blessing. It gave me something to do, and it was like having a good devotional every day. When I finished this morning, I almost cried.”

While not every Christian will feel led to copy the Bible, every believer needs some method of contemplating the Lord. As it was with David, the help we need comes from God.

https://thebaptistrecord.org/such-a-blessing-ms-woman-handwrites-entire-bible-in-three-and-a-half-years/

The week’s writer for Extra is David Roach. David is pastor of Shiloh Baptist Church in Saraland, Alabama. He and his wife Erin have three children.

Additional Questions

Icebreaker

When choosing food, do you go for taste or nutrition? Why?
When have you been willing to do something, only because of an accompanying benefit?
When have you had a hard time solving a puzzle when the answer was right in front of your face?
What is something you believed as a kid, that you later learned was incorrect?

Psalm 63:1-5 – When we come to God in worship, we find satisfaction.

What are some specific ways God has satisfied you in recent months?
What are some practical ways you can earnestly seek God?
What are some ways God has brought satisfaction to your life?
Why was it important for David to sing praises to God in the wilderness?
What are the benefits to those who worship God?
When was there a time in which God met your need?
When has a worship experience helped you see God’s strength and glory?

Psalm 63:6-8 – When we come to God in worship, we find the help and assurance we need.

How does meditating on God’s help affect our appreciation of God through worship?
Why is it important to come to God in worship when we’re in need of help?
When has God provided help for you in a time of need?
How does the imagery depicted in these verses help you experience God’s comfort?
How does meditating on God help us in life?

Psalm 63:9-11 – When we come to God in worship, we find confidence in the One who conquers.

How does worship strengthen and prepare us for tough times?
What characteristics of God can we focus on when we feel weak and vulnerable?
Has your confidence in God increased or decreased over the years? Explain.
When have you seen God bring justice in a circumstance of humanity’s injustice?
What does our worship of God even during tough times communicate to those around us?
What has God done in your life that causes you to boast about Him?

For Those in Your Group

Send the following link to your group members as either a teaser before the group meets or as a follow-up thought. NOTE: After March 1, this supplemental devotional will only be available at lynnhpryor.com.

If You Dread Mondays