If Money Talked | Week 2
Money Says: You think you own me, actually I own you
Discussion:
True or false: Most of us allow our income to drive our spending.
Someone once said, “You work for your money, or your money works for you.”
The writer of proverbs put it this way…
Read Proverbs 22:7 The rich rules over the poor, And the borrower becomes the lender’s slave.
When your spending exceeds your income, you become a slave.
When you manage someone else’s money are you responsible and accountable? Why? Why not?
Read Psalms 24:1 The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it;
Read 1 Corinthians 10:26 The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it.
What is your first reaction to the idea that you are managing money that God has entrusted you with?
Does that match the way you’ve thought about money before?
The Challenge this week is to spy on your money.
Which answer best describes you as it relates to you knowing where your money goes?
I avoid thinking about it
I am mostly unaware of where it’s going
I know generally where it is going
I know exactly where it is going
If comfortable share and explain your answer.
Is there a time in your life when you would have answered differently?
Are you spending your money on those things that are most meaningful to you?
What are some things that you would spend money on now but what would that be and why?
Off the top of your head think about what you spent money on in the last week. Are any of those in your list from above?
This week track your spending.
Go digital
The Mint app or another spend tracking app
Keep a paper trail
Keep every receipt from every purchase than at the end of the week write it all down.
Write it Down, right away
Take a piece of paper with you every day and write every down where and for what every dime you spent.
Spend the same way
Use only one debit or credit card this week and then look at your expenses via your bank statement.
Tracking each expense will be a valuable tool to help you know how and when you’re spending your money and give you the ability to find ways to manage what God has given you to manage.
This will allow you to maintain or begin the process of making your money work for you.
Remember:
No one who applies what Jesus taught about money to their personal finances ever regrets it.
If Money Talked | Week 1
The Consumption Assumption:
Money Says: I can add meaning to your life, but I am not the meaning of life.
Discussion:
How was money handled in your house growing up?
What was modeled about money for you in the past often influences the assumption you hold about money today.
Which of the following statement do you strongly agree or strongly disagree? What might influence your answers?
The details of my finances should be kept private from family and friends
If I work hard, I have the right to play hard.
My salary and my possessions are an indication of my success.
Once I have everything I need, I should be generous with what I have left.
Carrying a balance on my credit card is okay
Giving my kids nice things is one way I show I love them.
Children should be told the details of our family finances.
Someone once said, “You work for your money, or your money works for you.”
Money can be a tool to add meaning to your life as it works for you.
Our money, or lack thereof also known as debt usually driven by greed, or I want it now instead of when I can afford it, can begin to control our lives.
The writer of proverbs put it this way…
Read: Proverbs 22:7 The rich rules over the poor, And the borrower becomes the lender’s slave.
The Pastor said “greed is the assumption that it’s all for my consumption.”
What is your reaction to this definition?
Has your financial situation ever impacted whether you were able to do something you felt strongly to do?
Has your finances ever dictated your decisions? (Example, you wanted to stay home to raise your kids but you had to many bills so you couldn’t)
Read Luke 12:15 “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”
Read the next question and have each person reflect on their answer to themselves.
Have you shifted to autopilot in your finances?
Have you lost track of goals you once had especially the ones related to being generous?
What expenses are you trying to justify?
Are you willing to entertain another way of thinking about money?
Remember:
No one who applies what Jesus taught about money to their personal finances ever regrets it.
Take Back Your Life | Week 5
Series Big Idea: This Series will help you recognize what’s holding you back and equip you to embrace it head-on as you become the best version of yourself.
Discussion Guide 5
Sermon Big Idea:
The opportunity of a lifetime must be seized in the lifetime of that opportunity – Leonard Ravenhill
Opening:
What is the best deal you ever passed up and regretted later?
What is the best deal you ever got on anything?
Read: Deuteronomy 1:20-21
20 I said to you, ‘You have now reached the hill country of the Amorites that the Lord our God is giving us. 21 Look! He has placed the land in front of you. Go and occupy it as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has promised you. Don’t be afraid! Don’t be discouraged!’
Discuss:
After wandering around in the wilderness, the children of Israel have made it to the land God promised them.
According to these verses, what is required of the Israelites to take the gift God had promised them?
It seems too good to be true, doesn’t it?
What seemed to be the most logical next step for the Israelites was to send a group into the land to investigate.
What they discovered is the promise land was everything God said it was except someone was already living there and they were really big and had fortified cities.
What is the logical response when an opportunity meets an obstacle?
How easy is it to start questioning how legitimate an opportunity is when obstacles arise?
Read Numbers 13:26
30 Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.” 31 But the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.” 32 And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size.
Is the majority always, right?
All these men saw the same thing while investigating the land.
Why was Caleb’s response different from that of the rest of the group?
Why did the rest of the group feel the need to “spread a bad report?
Is it fair to say that a logical response is not always the right response when given an opportunity? Explain your answer.
Read Numbers 14:1-2
That night all the members of the community raised their voices and wept aloud. 2 All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole assembly said to them, “If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this wilderness!
What were the facts of the opportunity before the people? God had already given them the land they just had to go get it.
Ever notice it is easier to spread negativity than it is to spread positivity?
Why is it easier for us to believe the negative rather than the positive when facing an opportunity?
Faith doesn’t always look logical or obstacle-free.
However, faith is beyond logic and can move any obstacle before us.
Lack of faith can be costly:
Read Numbers 14:11
11 The Lord said to Moses, “How long will these people treat me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in me, in spite of all the signs I have performed among them? 12 I will strike them down with a plague and destroy them,
None of those who believed the majority entered the promise land
Only Caleb and Joshua who by faith in God saw beyond the logical and past the obstacles entered into God’s promise.
What are some opportunities you are facing?
Are they logical or obstacle-free?
Are you trusting God or believing the negativity?
Take Back Your Life | Week 4
Take Back Your life
Big Idea:
This series will help you recognize what’s holding you back and equip you to embrace it head on as you become the best version of yourself.
Big Idea: Whatever you are holding to is holding you back.
Opening
How can holding back hold us back?
What makes a risk, risky?
Discuss
In Genesis beginning in chapter 12, we see Abraham’s journey of faith.
There is a series of hits and misses as he is called by God to begin a new nation with a baron wife.
A journey of total obedience and total disobedience that finely leads God to ultimately test Abraham’s heart.
Read Genesis 21:1 Sometime later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied.
Abraham heard God because he was listening.
How does God speak to you? Are you listening?
Read Genesis 21:2-3 Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.” 3 Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about.
According to what you heard in Sunday’s message what are the unusual events that take place in the passage?
Abraham getting up, loading the donkeys, and heading out showed Abraham had faith but was he completely faithful yet?
Why is partial obedience still disobedience?
Read Genesis 21:4-5 4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5 He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.” 6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, 7 Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?” “Yes, my son?” Abraham replied. “The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”8 Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.
Sometimes God asks us to do things that don’t make sense to us, and we discard it.
How do these verses show Abraham is trusting God without clearly understanding what was going on?
Read Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.
We all want to be people of faith but what about when we can’t see what God is up to?
Abraham didn’t know how this day would end but he was trusting God even in the risk.
Even though he continued the journey and made bold statements of faith was he completely faithful yet?
Read Genesis 21:9-11 9 When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham! ” Here I am,” he replied.
At the moment Abraham “took out his hand and took the knife to slay his son” his faith was complete.
Partial obedience is disobedience.
It’s when we fully trust God and take the risk our faith is made complete.
Genesis 21:12-14 12 “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”13 Abraham looked up, and there in a thicket he saw a ram[a] caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”
Too many have missed the blessing by partially doing what is asked.
Have you ever tried to bargain with God when his asked seemed too great?
Only when we lay our Isaac on the alter can we see God’s true provide and show and grow in our relationship with him.
Oh, and did I mention how important it is to listen to God?
What would have happened if he had stopped listening?
Discuss:
Abraham could have been too busy taking care of all that was going on in his life and missed God’s voice.
He could have ignored God’s request because it was outrageous.
He could have bargained with God and not picked up the knife.
Are you keeping communication open with God and listening for his voice?
Are you willing to take the risk and find the reward of a deeper relationship with God?
Take Back Your Life | Week 3
Hold That Thought
Key Passage: Philippines 6:6-7
6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Key Idea: If you can get your thought life under God's control, your life will not be out of control.
Discussion Starter:
You may have heard it said that the mind is a terrible thing to waste.
What do you spend the most of your time thinking about?
Are those thought used on what you believe to be your highest priority?
Read Philippians 6:6-7
6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
What is the origin of our anxiety? Our Thoughts
If our thoughts are the source of our anxiety, are we thinking the right thoughts?
What are the keys in this passage to turn our thought process to bring peace and not anxiety?
What role do you believe a thankful attitude places in bringing our request to God?
Read Colossians 3:16
Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.
Together make a list. What is the message of Christ?
How does allowing his message to live in us change the way we think?
How will this affect not only our own lives but others around us?
Read Colossians 3:2
Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.
What does this verse mean?
How can it bring stability and help us to take back our lives?
Next Step:
We live in our minds. We carry out our thought in everyday life. How we think determines how we live.
We can choose to become a prisoner or set free by our thoughts alone.
What needs to change in your thought process to allow you to break free and take back your life?
Take Back Your Life | Week 2
Series Big Idea: This Series will help you recognize what’s holding you back and equip you to embrace it head-on as you become the best version of yourself.
Discussion Guide 2
Sight for Sore Eyes
Sermon Big Idea: What are you doing with what you have been given?
Opening:
Have you ever made a food dish the was awful? What went wrong?
Why are recipes so important?
Discuss:
Are you familiar with the acrostic GIGO?
It is used in the programing and data entry of computer techs.
Garbage in Garbage out.
It means if the programing is faulty i.e. garbage or the data is wrong i.e. garbage then it will only produce more faulty program or wrong data i.e. garbage
Read: Matthew 6:22-23
22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light.
23 But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
What does this scripture tell us of how we gather “data” truth, values and program ourselves in how we live?
If we are looking watching observing taking in “bad” things, then those things will distort the truth and dictate our values.
What do you believe are bad things that you should not be looking at?
Read Psalm 119
"Turn my eyes from worthless things and revive me again in Your way."
Life is full if things that can be viewed as worthless or damaging to us.
How does our perspective determine the attitude of our heart?
A healthy life begins with a healthy perspective.
Read John 16:33b
In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.
According to this verse how do we see and handle the pressure of the world?
We all have experienced some type of trauma in our lives.
How are ways people see and deal with what has happened to them?
We can’t ignore trauma and its effect on us.
How can God use trauma and change our prescription and how we see it?
Read: Matthew 6:22-23
22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light.
23 But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
As we discussed last week busyness can distort our focus on what matters most.
How can we keep our focus pure?
Read Psalm 13:3
3 Turn and answer me, O LORD my God! Restore the sparkle to my eyes, or I will die.
How does where we focus determine our outlook?
How big is your God?
Is he bigger than what is staring at you?
Is he big enough to out shine the other distraction of life that want to take away you focus?
NextStep: Pray that God will show you things that have distracted you focus and dimmed you heart. Ask him to allow the power of the Holy Spirit to center your focus on Him keep you teachable and strength to guard your heart to protect you from those threats to your heart.
Take Back Your Life | Week 1
Series Big Idea: This Series will help you recognize what’s holding you back and equip you to embrace it head-on as you become the best version of yourself.
Discussion Guide 1
This is Your Wakeup Call!
Sermon Big Idea: What are you doing with what you have been given?
Opening:
One of the best things about being a kid and the worst about an adult is responsibility.
When was the first time you discovered you were responsible for something?
How is responsibility viewed in society today? Does the view change the value or weight of responsibility?
Read: 1 Kings 20: 39-40
As the king passed by, the prophet called out to him, “Sir, I was in the thick of battle, and suddenly a man brought me a prisoner. He said, ‘Guard this man; if for any reason he gets away, you will either die or pay a fine of seventy-five pounds[c] of silver!’ But while I was busy doing something else, the prisoner disappeared!” “Well, it’s your own fault,” the king replied. “You have brought the judgment on yourself.”
Discuss:
This story has a lot of twist and turn that really aren’t relevant to our discussion.
However, when we insert ourselves into the story as the soldier what are some truths we can gleam?
Read Proverbs 4:23 Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of our lives.
What was the soldiers excuse for allowing the prisoner to escape?
Distractions are everywhere.
What are some of the things that tend to distract you away from focusing on what matters most?
Have you ever noticed that the trap of busyness is something you are never looking for but it always finds you?
How does that lack of focus affect your life and relationships?
According to the message who are we most responsible to guard?
Read Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?
If we are to guard our hearts, what are some threats we trying to keep out?
Should our focus be keeping things out or keeping our hearts full?
How do we keep our hearts full?
What are some specific thing you and I can do to guard ourselves from the things that have taken our lives away from us?
Matthew 6:33 Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.
To take back our lives we must take back responsibility of protecting our hearts. That means we open ourselves to God’s working in our lives and set boundaries on those things that would distract us from our purpose.
NextStep: Pray that God will show you things that have snuck into your life and taken you captive. Ask him to allow the power of the Holy Spirit to center your focus on Him keep you teachable and strength to guard your heart to protect you from those threats to your heart.
Roller Coaster | Week 4
Feeling Lost in Sadness? Experience Joy Again
Key Scriptures
But as he came closer to Jerusalem and saw the city ahead, he began to weep. Luke 19:41 NLT
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones God’s messengers! How often I have wanted to gather your children together as a hen protects her chicks beneath her wings, but you wouldn’t let me.” Matthew 23:37 NLT
“When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death!’” Luke 15:17 NIV
“So he got up and went to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.” Luke 15:20 NIV
“‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’” Luke 15:31-32 NIV
Start talking. Find a conversation starter for your group.
What three emotions do you think you felt most this week?
Name one thing that has recently brought you joy.
Start thinking. Ask a question to get your group thinking.
Do you relate to a particular character or moment from the parable of the Prodigal Son? How so?
Have you noticed yourself walking or drifting away from God? What impact has that had on your life?
Do you ever find yourself just following the rules instead of truly enjoying a relationship with your Father? What would need to change for you to enjoy the relationship?
Start sharing. Choose a question to create openness.
What one step could you take toward your Father this week?
Who could you encourage in their faith?
Start praying. Be bold and pray with power.
Father, thank You that we can always find joy in our relationship with You, regardless of our life’s circumstances. Help us to lean more on You each day, trusting that You will care for us and guide us as we continue forward. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Start doing. Commit to a step and live it out this week.
Choose one step to take toward your Father this week. Then take that step.
Roller Coaster | Week 3
Angry Like Jesus
Key Scriptures
“In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold. Ephesians 4:26-27 NIV
Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. “It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’” The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them. Matthew 21:12-14 NIV
… for he forgave all our sins. He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross. Colossians 2:13-15 NLT
Start talking. Find a conversation starter for your group.
How do you feel about expressing anger? Are you comfortable with it, or do you tend to downplay it?
What’s your typical way of expressing anger when you feel it?
Start thinking. Ask a question to get your group thinking.
What makes you angrier—when you’re mistreated, or when someone you love is mistreated? Why do you think there’s a difference between the two?
In your effort to be right, have you ever forgotten to be loving? What was that situation like? What did you learn from it?
How might remembering God’s forgiveness of your sins change the way you approach people who have hurt or mistreated you or those you love?
Start sharing. Choose a question to create openness.
What injustices make you feel angry?
When you feel anger over injustice, how can you turn the tables by loving people?
Start praying. Be bold and pray with power.
Father, thank You for Your forgiveness. In spite of the many ways, we sin against You, You are continually patient and loving, leading us to become more like Your Son. Be with us in times when we feel anger toward others and guide us in showing them Your love. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Start doing. Commit to a step and live it out this week.
Spend time this week thanking God for His forgiveness of your sins. Ask Him to help you show His love to others the next time you feel angry.
Roller Coaster |Week 2
Finding Relief from Anxiety
Key Scriptures
They went to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” He took Peter, James, and John along with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled. “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death,” he said to them. “Stay here and keep watch.” Going a little farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that if possible, the hour might pass from him. “Abba, Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.” Mark 14:32-36 NIV
He plunged into a sinkhole of dreadful agony. Mark 14:33 MSG
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippines 4:6-7 NIV
Start talking. Find a conversation starter for your group.
What one thing has made you the most anxious this year?
What’s your go-to method of unwinding when you feel anxious?
Start thinking. Ask a question to get your group thinking.
As you look back at the past year, what are some ways your friendships (or lack of friendships) have affected you?
Consider times in your life when you made prayer a priority. Then think about times when you didn’t. How were those times in your life different?
Are there any feelings you think you have a hard time controlling? How might aligning your feelings with your faith change the way you live?
Start sharing. Choose a question to create openness.
Have you ever felt the peace of God guard you? What was that experience like?
What are some ways you can lean on your friends, talk to your Father, or align your feelings with your faith this week?
Start praying. Be bold and pray with power.
Father, thank You for being a never-ending source of support. No matter what struggles or obstacles we face in life, we can trust that You’re with us. Help us to trust that You’re in control of everything we experience and give us the courage we need to follow Your lead. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Start doing. Commit to a step and live it out this week.
If you’re dealing with anxiety, use one of the three ways mentioned in this weekend’s message (talking to friends, talking to your Father, or talking to your feelings) to find relief this week.
Roller Coaster | Week 1
Where Is God When You Hurt
Key Scriptures
Soon afterward Jesus went with his disciples to the village of Nain, and a large crowd followed him. A funeral procession was coming out as he approached the village gate. The young man who had died was a widow’s only son, and a large crowd from the village was with her. When the Lord saw her, his heart overflowed with compassion. “Don’t cry!” he said. Then he walked over to the coffin and touched it, and the bearers stopped. “Young man,” he said, “I tell you, get up.” Then the dead boy sat up and began to talk! And Jesus gave him back to his mother. Great fear swept the crowd, and they praised God, saying, “A mighty prophet has risen among us,” and “God has visited his people today.” Luke 7:11-16 NLT
Start talking. Find a conversation starter for your group.
What is your favorite Roller Coaster?
What one word would describe your current emotional state?
Do you think of yourself as an emotional person, or would you say you’re more logical?
Start thinking. Ask a question to get your group thinking.
Have you ever gone through a time when you felt like God didn’t see you? What was that like?
Does knowing that Jesus dealt with so many emotions change your perception of Him? If so, how?
How can we remind ourselves that God is with us and loves us, even during tough times?
Start sharing. Choose a question to create openness.
Share a time when you realized that God had been with you during a difficult time, even if you didn’t see it in the moment.
What cares and concerns can you cast on Jesus this week?
How can you reach across lines to love others this week?
Start praying. Be bold and pray with power.
Father, thank You for Your compassion. Thank You for Your love, which never wavers. Help us to trust that no matter what struggles we face in life, you see us and care for us. Help us to cast our cares and concerns on You and to share Your love with others. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Start doing. Commit to a step and live it out this week.
Set aside some time this week to talk to God about the struggles you’re facing right now.
EPIC (Joseph) | Week 4
Getting Started:
We hear all the time “Make the most of life?”.
What do you believe would give you the most of life?
What do you believe might be holding you back from getting the most out of life?
Digging Deeper
Joseph was still in prison.
While in prison he didn’t just sit ideally by but made the most of it.
He worked hard and rose in his ability to lead.
Remember that he had interpreted the dream of the Cupbearer and the Baker.
But the Cupbearer had forgotten about Joseph for 2 years later until Pharaoh had a dream that no one could interpret.
Read Genesis 41:9-13
Then the chief cupbearer said to Pharaoh, “Today I am reminded of my shortcomings. 10 Pharaoh was once angry with his servants, and he imprisoned me and the chief baker in the house of the captain of the guard. 11 Each of us had a dream the same night, and each dream had a meaning of its own. 12 Now a young Hebrew was there with us, a servant of the captain of the guard. We told him our dreams, and he interpreted them for us, giving each man the interpretation of his dream. 13 And things turned out exactly as he interpreted them to us: I was restored to my position, and the other man was impaled.”
Joseph was taken from the prison and to Pharaoh.
From what we see what is Joseph’s disposition?
Does he seem upset or mad at anyone?
Does he have reason to have a victim mentality?
Joseph didn’t allow his circumstance to dictate his outlook, instead he bloomed where he was planted and left the rest up to God.
How can we keep from becoming bitter in our situation?
Read Genesis 41:15-16
Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I had a dream, and no one can interpret it. But I have heard it said of you that when you hear a dream you can interpret it.” “I cannot do it,” Joseph replied to Pharaoh, “but God will give Pharaoh the answer he desires.”
Who did Joseph give credit to for interpreting dreams? Why?
How easy is it to take God’s glory for our own when others are singing our praised?
Read Genesis 41:25-30
Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, “The dreams of Pharaoh are one and the same. God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do. 26 The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good heads of grain are seven years; it is one and the same dream. 27 The seven lean, ugly cows that came up afterward are seven years, and so are the seven worthless heads of grain scorched by the east wind: They are seven years of famine.28 “It is just as I said to Pharaoh: God has shown Pharaoh what he is about to do. 29 Seven years of great abundance are coming throughout the land of Egypt, 30 but seven years of famine will follow them.
Joseph was a prideful person now he seemed to be confident but not arrogant?
According to the message where did this confidence come from?
Genesis 41:33 & 38-40 “And now let Pharaoh look for a discerning and wise man and put him in charge of the land of Egypt. So Pharaoh asked them, “Can we find anyone like this man, one in whom is the spirit of God?” Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has made all this known to you, there is no one so discerning and wise as you. You shall be in charge of my palace, and all my people are to submit to your orders. Only with respect to the throne will I be greater than you.”
Joseph must have felt God near him, endorsing him.
As there ever been a time where you felt God confirm that you were where you needed to be doing what you needed to do?
God had been preparing Joseph for this moment all along.
God help Joseph become humble through his experience
He also began to build Joseph’s abilities by 1st managing a Potiphar’s household then the prison now the whole nation of Egypt.
Even when we don’t think we are do something significant God is still working us towards our purpose.
Joseph used his gifts to serve others.
What can you do this week to use whatever you are doing to make the most of life by serving others?
EPIC (Joseph) | Week 4
Big idea: While You are waiting God is working.
Key Verse: 2 Corinthians 4:8 - We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair.
Getting Started:
Has there ever been a time in your life when you wanted something with all your heart but finally gave up because it never seemed you would get it?
Did you ever receive that something latter and realize you got it at just the right time?
Digging In:
Joseph had his dream but now found himself in prison.
Read: Genesis 39:21-22
But the Lord was with Joseph in the prison and showed him his faithful love. And the Lord made Joseph a favorite with the prison warden. Before long, the warden put Joseph in charge of all the other prisoners and over everything that happened in the prison.
In time of trials how do we get distracted from God’s faithful love?
Pastor said “God’s purpose is not confined to our expectations”
How do we try to confine God to our expectations?
What are the dangers in doing this?
Read: Proverbs 3:5-6 - Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.
When you are down to nothing God is up to something.
The Most dangerous temptation of all is discouragement.
What makes discouragement so dangerous?
As believers how do we combat discouragement?
How is basing our decisions on feeling impractical?
Read: Genesis 40:23
Pharaoh’s chief cupbearer, however, forgot all about Joseph, never giving him another thought.
Even when others forget us God had not. In prison God was with Joseph and showed him unfailing love. Despite your circumstances and waiting on your purpose and dreams to be fulfilled God is still close. Even though the waiting is the hardest part.
Semester Recap
This is a reminder that this will be the final life group lesson for this semester. Thank you for leading! :)
This semester was probably filled with highs and lows in life and group. Our hope is that over the past few months you’ve developed deeper relationships with those around you and more importantly a deeper passion to know God.
Take this life group time to reflect on the moments of group to celebrate all that God has done.
The Group:
What was the funniest moment in life group this semester?
Was there anyone in your group that you felt really took the time to get to know you/encourage you/ or help you through a tough time? If so, take a moment to encourage and appreciate that individual.
Was there a sermon series we looked at that you really felt helped you grow spiritually? (It’s your call, It’s All Good, Irresistible, Epic)
Why are LifeGroups valuable to our spiritual journeys?
What has someone else shared about their life in a LifeGroup setting that really helped you or taught you?
Individuals Life (have everyone share these with the group open and honestly):
Where would you say your relationship is at with God? (nonexistent, somewhat, in a good place, better than ever)
What would you attribute to being in that place with God, good or bad?
What would it take to elevate your relationship with God to the next level? Even if it’s better than it’s ever been, do you think this is as good as it could ever get?
How can this group challenge and encourage you in your relationship with God?
As the Leader:
Take a moment to encourage everyone in your group and the value they add to everyones lives.
End of Semester Challenge:
What’s the next step in your relationship with God (Salvation, Baptism, Ownership, Serving on Sunday, Serving outside of Sundays, Missions, Daily devotion to God, Fasting, Accountability)
Do you have someone of the same gender in this group that you find accountability through? If not, is that something you would consider?
End the semester in a time of prayer for others and the leaders of your group.
Love you all!
EPIC (Joseph) | Week 2
Key Verse: John 16:33
In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
Digging In:
Read Genesis 37:18-22
When Joseph’s brothers saw him coming, they recognized him in the distance. As he approached, they made plans to kill him. “Here comes the dreamer!” they said. “Come on, let’s kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns. We can tell our father, ‘A wild animal has eaten him.’ Then we’ll see what becomes of his dreams!” “Let’s not kill him,” he said. 22 “Why should we shed any blood? Let’s just throw him into this empty cistern here in the wilderness. Then he’ll die without our laying a hand on him.” Reuben was secretly planning to rescue Joseph and return him to his father.
Genesis 37:23-25 & 28 So when Joseph arrived, his brothers ripped off the beautiful robe he was wearing. 24 Then they grabbed him and threw him into the cistern. Now the cistern was empty; there was no water in it.
Life has pits.
Read john 16:33a In this world you will have trouble.
What do you think Joseph was feeling in the pit?
What part did Joseph play in getting himself thrown in the pit?
Pits in your own life come in many forms:
Outside Circumstances: Life happens
Internal Circumstances: Bodies and mind can fail for many reasons
Poor decisions: Sometimes we create our own pit.
Read John 16:33a
Jesus is speaking “In this world you will have trouble.
What is the most difficult life event you have ever experienced?
In the pit, you can be buried or you can blossom.
What was your initial reaction to the most difficult event you’ve experienced?
How did this experience change you?
What are the negative reactions we can have in the pit?
What are some questions we can ask to help us grow in the pit?
What is God doing in me?
What is God doing through me?
Read James 1:2-4
Dear brothers and sisters,[a] when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.
The verse says to have JOY in TROUBLE. What does that look like?
Do you show joy in your troubles?
Many of the pits we face in life drive us to avoidance. We avoid the curveballs life throws at us as long as possible, until we can’t anymore. But if you’re not willing to go through it, you’re never going to grow from it.
What does growth look like from your pits?
What does the quote “Beautiful souls are shaped by ugly experiences” mean to you?
Pits can drive us from God or to God?
What new insights did you learn about the character of God in this time?
How have/could you use your experience to bless others who may be going through something similar?
Read John 16:33
In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
Because Jesus endured his pit of the cross we can overcome whatever the world throws our way.
Next Step:
If you’re in a pit, look for God and his guidance.
Ask him to make you a quick learner and for you to be able to see what He is teaching you.
Ask God to show you how you can use your pit experience to bless others.
EPIC (Joseph) | Week 1
Week 1: Dreams; Handle With Care
Note to the Leaders:
This discussion guide is a help for you to engage and steer the conversation within your group.
You do not have to read every question; this is just resources for you to move the main idea forward.
Do your best to make the story come to life by asking questions that will spur your group conversations that make this story play come alive and become applicable to their lives.
Key Verse:
You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me!
Getting Started:
When you were a kid, was there ever a time that you learned a valuable lesson that took you several mistakes to learn?
How many times did it take, after making the same mistake, before you really understood the lesson?
Truth is, the lessons we learn mold us into becoming the person we need to be.
That, in a nutshell, is the story of Joseph.
Digging in:
Read Genesis 37:2-4
Joseph, a young man of seventeen, was tending the flocks with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives, and he brought their father a bad report about them. Now Israel (Jacob) loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made an ornate[a] robe for him. 4 When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.
What do these verses tell us about Joseph?
What do these verses tell us about the how Jacob and Joseph’s action affected Joseph’s relationship with his brothers?
Read Genesis 37:5-7 & 9
5 Now Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers they hated him even more. 6 He said to them, “Hear this dream that I have dreamed: 7 Behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and behold, my sheaf arose and stood upright. And behold, your sheaves gathered around it and bowed down to my sheaf.”
9 Then he dreamed another dream and told it to his brothers and said, “Behold, I have dreamed another dream. Behold, the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.”
How would you react to your spoiled little brother coming to you and telling you this dream?
Imagine being the little brother who just had this awesome dream.
Being naive, you’d be telling everyone and posting it on Instagram with your techno-colored coat from dad.
Read Philippians 2:3-4
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.
When God is revealing something to us, how do we talk to others about it without being boastful?
How do we really know if it is a God desire or a personal desire?
Pray, measure it against scripture, & ask other counsel
Read Proverbs 12:15
The way of fools seems right to them, but the wise listen to advice.
The motive of our dreams and desire should be serving others.
Read Genesis 37:8,10
His brothers said to him, “Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?” And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said.” … 10 When he told his father as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said, “What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?”
We all have THAT annoying relative.
How would you feel if that relative told you they dreamed you would one day bow down to them?
We don’t choose where we enter this life
We don’t even choose our weakness or our strengths for that matter.
We do choose what we do with what we have been given.
Joseph didn’t choose the dream he had but his handling of the dream was all on him.
Although it was no excuse, why was Joseph the way he was?
Read Genesis 30:22
God remembered Rachel and listened to her and opened her womb.
Joseph was born.
The long awaited first son of Jacobs first love.
After so much anguish and disappointment it’s not hard to see why Jacob loved Joseph so much.
Then suddenly tragedy bound Joseph and Jacob together.
Genesis 35:18
As she breathed her last—for she was dying—she named her son Ben-Oni.[a] But his father named him Benjamin.
Rachel dies giving birth to a second son Benjamin.
Rachel got what she had yearned for but then was suddenly denied the opportunity to enjoy it.
Jacob and Joseph find consolation in each other.
The old man was grief stricken and Joseph was a living reminder of the one he had worked for so long and loved so much but now lost.
Not that this was right, but we see why Jacob lavished his love on Joseph and favored him above the rest of his children.
Unfortunately, Jacob’s favoritism turned into Josephs arrogance.
Joseph was dealt the cards of spoiled rich kid.
No matter the hand we are dealt we are responsible for our actions.
God however used these circumstances to begin to make Joseph the man God needed him to be.
God loved Joseph too much to leave him where he was.
God loves you too much to leave you where you are.
Is there a situation now that God is using to shape you?
What are you doing in with this situation?
Are you using it to grow or groan?
Irresistible | Week 4
Week 4 Who Is My Neighbor?
Life Group Discussion Guide
Note to the Leaders:
This discussion guide is a help for you to engage and steer the conversation within your group.
You do not have to read every question; this is just resources for you to move the main idea forward.
Do your best to make the story come to life by asking questions that will spur your group conversations that make this story play come alive and become applicable to their lives.
Key Verse: 1 John 3:16,
This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.
Getting Started:
· Have you ever unfriended someone on social media because they had a different political view than you?
· If so, why did that political affiliation lead you to unfriend them?
· Do you believe you were able to teach them a lesson or value the relationship?
· Should differences between us determine our love for one another?
Digging In:
Read Luke 10:25-29
On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it? He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’[c]; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.() “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.” But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
1. Is it always easier to love others just like us?
· For Jews during the time of Jesus, other Jews were their “neighbors”.
· If that was all that Jesus meant by this verse it would be less complicated.
· Jesus answers with a story…
Read Luke 10:30-32
A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side
· Assuming that because this man was coming from Jerusalem and a Samaritan wouldn’t be caught dead in Jerusalem, we can be fairly confident that the beaten man was a Jew.
1. How did the Priest and the Levite fail to follow the basic law of “loving their Jewish neighbor”?
2. Who qualifies someone as a person we would consider “like us”?
3. How do we fail to love those like us?
Read Luke 10:33-35
But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him.” He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the in-keeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.
· Jews looked at Samaritans as half-breeds that were trying to sneak in on the Jewish blessings
· Needless to say, there was a wall built between them and they refused to even talk to each other.
· This whole story that Jesus is telling is borderline ridiculous for those listening.
Read Luke 10:36-37
Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” Luke “The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him. Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
4. Although the answer to the question was obvious, the implication of the answer was “Who loved their neighbor as themselves?”.
· The fact that the man answered Jesus out loud, he knew he was now accountable for loving those who were not like him.
· He couldn’t even mention the man as a Samaritan, just “the other man”.
In one moment, Jesus redefined “neighbor” for everybody forever.
5. How does Jesus in this story redefine and shift our thinking on how we see others?
6. How does seeing others like God see’s them help us to love them authentically?
· Love is not limited to ethnicity but extends beyond borders even our own prejudice.
Read 1 John 3:16
This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives (Our opinions our prejudice) for our brothers and sisters.
Next Step:
· Is there someone or a group of people you are withholding God’s love from because they are different than you?
· Our opinion of others must be solely based on who Christ say they are, not us.
Remember:
· Jesus Liked People who were Nothing Like Him.
· Jesus Invited Unbelieving, Misbehaving, Troublemaking Men and Women to Follow Him and to Embrace Something New, and they Accepted His Invitation.
· And this made Him irresistible to others.
Irresistible | Week 3
Irresistible
Week 3 Vertical vs. Horizontal
Life Group Discussion Guide
Note to the Leaders:
This discussion guide is a help for you to engage and steer the conversation within your group.
You do not have to read every question; this is just resources for you to move the main idea forward.
Do your best to make the story come to life by asking questions that will spur your group conversations that make this story play come alive and become applicable to their lives.
Getting Started:
1. Have you ever been part of a difficult relationship, maybe it was family or just a friend, where you always had to tiptoe around not to offend the other person?
2. Have you ever been part of a relationship where you felt like the other person befriended you to get something from you?
· Tonight, we’re going to discuss not just our relationship with God, but others as well.
Digging In:
Read Matthew 22:37-38
Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.
1. How can the vertical relationship with God be lived selfishly?
· It can become as though we are tiptoeing in our relationship with God trying not to do something that will make him angry.
· When we ask the question of …
o How can I get closer to God?
o How can I know God more intimately?
o How can I receive all God has for me?
Too often we seek God’s hand and not his heart!
· While seeking greater intimacy with God is a noble pursuit, we’d be less than honest that the intimacy sought is for the benefit of the seeker and not God.
· My primary concern was not how my sin affected God but, how offending God might come back to haunt me.
Read Matthew 22:39
And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.
1. How much is the second part of this command like the first?
o Equally important according to Jesus
· Vertical morality leads to the idea that if I sinned against you and asked God to forgive me, everything would be good between me and God, and I could have a clean conscience, even though I would have to avoid you in the grocery store.
· Vertical morality that doesn’t concern itself with loving others.
Read Matthew 5:23-24,
Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.
2. According to this scripture can you love God but not love your neighbor?
Read James 2:15-18,
If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus, also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works. Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.”
3. How did Jesus live out this verse and show God’s love to us?
· Jesus’ death on the cross meant that he would meet our greatest need. The forgiveness of sin.
4. If Jesus met our greatest need, what does he expect us to do for others?
5. How can we strive to meet the needs of others in a way similar to the way God has met our greatest need?
o Forgiveness.
o Love gives sacrificially and unconditionally, expecting nothing in return.
6. Does the way you give reflect a sacrificial and unconditional heart or do you give expecting something in return (consciously or subconsciously)?
7. What does it look like PRACTICALLY to give sacrificially in the following areas of life.
a. Work
b. Marriage/Relationship
c. Friendships
d. Those who look like you
e. Those who don’t look like you
· This sacrificial love in relationships with God and Others is what made Jesus so irresistible.
8. How does this now define or redefine how we live in our relationship with God?
Next Step:
· How would you describe your relationship with God?
· What needs to change in the way you love God and others to truly experience the true joy of a relationship with God?
Irresistible | Week 2
Week 2 What Does Love Require
Life Group Discussion Guide
Note to the Leaders:
This discussion guide is a help for you to engage and steer the conversation within your group.
You do not have to read every question; this is just resources for you to move the main idea forward.
Do your best to make the story come to life by asking questions that will spur your group conversations that make this story play come alive and become applicable to their lives.
Key Verse: John 13:34 A new command I give you: Love one another as I have loved you, so you must love one another.
Once upon a time there was a version of our faith that was irresistible: despite all odds, without an official Bible, no political or moral status, with little chance of survival... the early church irresistibly flourished.
Getting Started:
· Somewhere along the way Christianity has lost the heart of what once made it irresistible.
· Most people have rejected the faith for reasons that had absolutely nothing to do with Jesus
1. How does our current culture describe Christians and Christianity?
2. Look around at your Life Group. How do you describe your fellow Christians and Christianity as a whole?
3. What, if any, is the difference between the two descriptions? *As a leader, use this time to encourage and affirm your group members*
Digging In:
1. Recounting last week, why did Jesus establish a new covenant instead of just following the covenant of the Old Testament?
· Where the old covenant required following 600 plus laws, the very definition of religion…
· While the new covenant was based on Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross and His resurrection, allowing us to have an individual relationship with God.
· The old was established on task the new was established on grace.
Read Matthew 22:37-40
Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
2. How did Jesus clarify the law in these 2 commands?
3. Which of these two commands is the most important?
· The answer is they are equal in value. You must both love God and love your neighbor as yourself.
A New Covenant Requires and New Command
· When Jesus gave the new covenant, he also gave a new command.
Read John 13:34
A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.
1. How did the requirements of how we show love change from what Jesus said earlier in Matthew 27:37-40(re-read verses)?
· Jesus wasn’t adding a command to an existing list of commands, rather he was replacing the irrefutable standard of love for others for those who followed him
· The old covenant was “Do to others as you want them to do to you”
· Jesus was saying “Do to others as I do to you”
· The motive for love was shifted from reciprocal, what do I get out of this, to sacrificial, love that is unconditional.
Read John 13:35
By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.
· Jesus’ primary command wasn’t just to believe something, but to do something
· To love as he had loved
Saint Francis of Assisi
Master grant that I may never seek
so much to be consoled as to console
To be understood as to understand
To be loved as to love with all my soul
2. How is Jesus’ new command simpler, yet more demanding than all the old covenant?
3. How does having to question whether something is a sin lead to more hypocrisy?
· It shows a line that we tend to snuggle close too.
4. How does asking the question “What does Love Require of Me?” bring clarity and reshape our thinking?
5. How does this change our answer to Why obey?
Revisit the question at the start.
1. Why has our culture rejected Christianity?
· Remember most people have rejected the faith based on something that has nothing to do with Jesus.
· Real Love is irresistible.
Next Step:
How can you personally adjust the way you live based on the command of Jesus?
Irresistible | Week 1
Week 1 All Our Eggs in One Basket
Life Group Discussion Guide
Note to the Leaders:
This discussion guide is a help for you to engage and steer the conversation within your group.
You do not have to read every question; this is just resources for you to move the main idea forward.
Do your best to make the story come to life by asking questions that will spur your group conversations that make this story play come alive and become applicable to their lives.
Key Verse: John 5:39
You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me!
Getting Started:
Once upon a time there was a version of our faith that was irresistible, despite all odds, without an official Bible, no political or moral status, with little chance of survival... the early church irresistibly flourished.
Digging In:
Somewhere along the way Christianity has lost the heart of what once made it irresistible.
Most people have rejected the faith for reasons that had absolutely nothing to do with Jesus
Why do you think we now live in a post Christian culture where more people are rejecting the faith than believing it?
How have we as Christians unintentionally given people reason to reject the faith?
How should this change our approach to how we share our faith?
Read John 5:39
You search the scripture because you think they give you eternal life. But the scriptures point to me
According to this scripture what is the basis of Christianity? Jesus is the basis of our faith.
Read Luke 22:20 In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.’”
Read: Jerimiah 31:31-33 Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. Not like the covenant that I made with their fathers…I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts.
What makes the new covenant different from the old covenant and more irresistible?
Relationships are always more meaningful than a religion based on rules.
Read: Hebrews 10:12 But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God.
Why did the disciples begin to follow Jesus?
Read John 6:68-69 Lord to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.”
After the crucifixion of Jesus there were no Christian. Everyone had abandoned their faith because Jesus was dead.
Read 1 Peter 3:15 “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.” –
Why did Peter after choosing to unfollow Jesus on the night of his crucifixion, choose to follow Jesus?
Our Faith was Broadcasted when a Handful of Jesus Followers saw him alive from the dead.
A total of some 500 eyewitnesses saw Jesus alive from the dead.
The Christian faith was and is propelled with the Resurrection of Jesus.
The Resurrection serves as the reason we give for the hope that is in us.
The Resurrection serves as our reasoning for the reliability of the Christian Scripture.
Just as the Resurrection served as the reason for the hope early believers…the resurrection serves as the reason for the hope we have.
How does this thinking change our approach in reaching others with the Good News of God’s love?
Christianity can stand on its own, nail scarred, resurrection, first-century new covenant feet.
The hope we have to share is not based on our ability to defend the Bible, the actions of the Church or other Christians, but on the resurrection that confirms Jesus is who he said he was and did What he said he would do.
Our relationship with God is based on our own personal encounter with the risen savior and although scripture helps us and is vital to our continued growth it is that personal encounter that establishes our faith in Jesus rather than in text.
It is the single basket of the resurrection that we place our eggs of faith in.
Like the first century church how can we leverage the resurrection to help others receive the gift of eternal life instead of a list of rules and regulations.
Once upon a time, without an official Bible, no political or moral status, with little chance of the survival, our faith was based on a single event – the historically documented resurrection of Jesus.