2024-25 MS/HS Chapel Devotional

CHAPEL 202 4-25

THAT PERSON IS LIKE A TREE PLANTED BY S TREAMS OF WATER, WHICH YIELDS IT S FRUIT IN SEA SON AND WHOSE LEAF DOES NOT WITHER— WHATEVER THEY DO PROSPERS.

PS ALM 1: 3

CORE BELIEFS

• God is highest.

• His Word is truth.

• Jesus is our Lord.

• Men and women are made in His image.

• We are truly free in Christ.

We are committed to making Christ central to everything we do. These five core beliefs capture a tremendous depth of meaning in their simplicity. For every week of this curriculum you will see one of these core beliefs emphasized and expounded upon. In addition, for each lesson, we’ve defined a common cultural lie and its corresponding biblical truth and written each article to aid you in helping students navigate these tensions. We hope these elements will guide your conversations and help you minister to the students God has entrusted to your care with the ultimate goal of developing ambassadors for Jesus.

THRIVING

Series Summary

In these messages we will set the trajectory for the year by exploring the theme of “ THRIVE” and considering the two verses leading up to Psalm 1:3. These three short verses contain the Gospel of Jesus Christ and through them we can find biblical perspective to answer many of the major questions we face in life. The Gospel can be summarized in four simple steps: 1) God is highest 2) We have sinned 3) Jesus provides redemption, and; 4) Through Jesus we have restoration. In these verses we see God portrayed as the giver of a perfect law who expects His ways to be followed, and ultimately blesses us for our obedience. We are cautioned against walking in sin. Then, in verse three, there is a foreshadowing of Jesus who describes Himself as living water. And, finally, we see restoration as God blesses us with purpose (fruit in season) and prosperity. Taken together Psalm 1:1-3 are the Gospel, and it will be through this Gospel that we will Thrive.

2024-25 TH E ME VERSE(S)

PSALM 1:1-3

1 Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers,

2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night.

3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers.

Be ‘That Person’

ARTICLE SUMMARY

How do you thrive? Every group has their ideas, and many of those groups are trying to sell them to us. In the two verses that lead up to our Psalm 1:3 we find practical guidance around how to thrive in Christ. These instructions are brought to life in the Gospels when Jesus, God in flesh, turns to Peter and the other disciples and says, “Come, follow me.” To be the person who thrives in life we must give up our lives and follow Jesus. As we start the year, let’s look at some of the practical implications of this.

Are you “that guy”? The one who volunteers to pick up the cones at the end of practice; the one who holds the door open for people or picks up the piece of trash and throws it away. Are you “that girl” who never forgets her friends’ birthdays and always writes thoughtful comments in her cards. What does it mean to be “that person”? In Psalm 1:3 it says, “That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither - whatever they do prospers.”

That person is a person of integrity. A hard worker who shows up early and makes sure the job is done. That person has a kind and generous word for those around them and seems to always be in a good mood. I definitely want to be that person; I also want that kind of person in my life. How do we become that person?

In verse one and two the psalmist tells us straight up: don’t walk with the wicked, don’t copy the behavior of sinners, and don’t hang around negative people who mock God. These two verses also tell us the good things we should be doing like reading, relying on, and applying the Bible to our life. These verses are not difficult to understand, so how is it that we are not all that person all of the time?

When Jesus called His disciples, he did not use complicated words either, He just said, “follow me.” And yet, as simple as His words are we still struggle, not with understanding them, but with doing them. We have so many questions:

Where are we going? How long will we be gone? What will I need? Who else is going? Will there be any food there? Why should I?

And we have excuses too:

But I have other obligations. But I’m already following others. But I won’t be able to go to other places. But it’s just not practical.

Perhaps our excuses say more about us than they do about Jesus. Here’s an example: if Lionel Messi showed up at our school to coach the soccer team and specifically asked you to join it, would you? Your questions and excuses for not signing up immediately would not say anything about Messi’s skill in soccer, they definitely would reveal something about what you believe about your own soccer abilities, right?

In the same way, perhaps our questions and excuses reveal a lot more about us then about Jesus’ invitation. Do we really believe He is the Christ, the son of the living God, the author of all creation and the final judge? And if we believe this and He is inviting us to go with Him, do any of our questions and excuses really carry weight?

I know you want to thrive. You want to do well in school, in your relationships, in your artistic, athletic, and vocational pursuits. You want to win! So do I!

To be that person you need to follow Jesus wherever He calls you to go.

KEY VERSE( s )

Psalm 1:1-3

1 Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers,

2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. Have you ever heard someone use the phrase, “Oh, that guy!” What do people usually mean by that?

2. What’s your favorite “Only in Dade” post?

3. Who do you follow?

4. What does it mean to thrive? In relationships? In school? In athletics? In your faith?

5. Jesus’ call to you is, “Follow me.” What does it look like to follow Jesus?

LOOKING THROUGH A BIBLE LENS

Core Belief: Jesus is our Lord.

Cultural Lie: You get to determine the meaning of your own life.

Biblical Worldview: Jesus is our Lord; He gives us our purpose and walks with us to ensure that we’re able to fulfill it.

Prayer:

Jesus, we believe you’re the Messiah, the son of God, but we are so distracted and prone to follow others who are less worthy. Give us a glimpse of your glory that we may know you. Call to us clearly that we may be enabled to follow. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Be Planted

ARTICLE SUMMARY

Thriving is not just a call to follow Jesus, it is also a call to be planted. “ That person” is planted by streams of water Psalm 1:3 tells us. The world is rapidly changing, it always has been, but as Christians we’re called to weather the storm well, and give honor to God. Are you planted on a firm foundation in your life? Being rooted in a local church is an important way we stand firm in an ever-shifting world. The invitation is open, if you want to thrive, you need to be planted in His Church.

No technology is unbiased, and no technological advancement is neutral!

Cai Lun (no, not Tai Lung from Kungfu Panda) invented paper in approximately the year Jesus died (A.D. 33). It took over 1,000 years, but eventually paper replaced parchment as the main material used to capture the written word. Setting the stage for books to replace the scroll for storing codified information. Though it was slow in the uptake, paper, in hindsight, was a revolutionary idea, but was it an advancement?

When Gutenberg’s’ printing press started cranking out books, no one had any idea the kind of impact his single invention would have on the course of human history. This single invention spread almost instantaneously around the world. For the first time in history, books (the Bible being the main one) could be made available to anyone – cue the Protestant Reformation… This was revolutionary, but was it an advancement?

Books stood as the main source of information for several hundred years. Then, computers happened! IBM developed a primitive, in-house “upgrade” to paper memos in 1974 to be sent electronically. It had no idea that email (as it would be later called) would change world-wide communication. “Paperless” is now a necessity for most businesses, and hand-written notes are quaint little novelties – cue the Digital Age. This was revolutionary, but was it an advancement?

When Steve Jobs released the iPhone in 2007 it was like an atom bomb. It changed how humans interact, the music industry, the entertainment industry, navigation, commerce, and a whole host of other categories. In short, it changed everything. But was it an advancement? Only history will tell. In one way, at least it wasn’t, we have reverted back to the scroll.

Revolutionary ideas and innovations change everything. The crazy thing about these kinds of technologies is once they’ve been released into society, they can never be taken back (Pandora’s box), and people who are born after they are established, can hardly imagine a world where they don’t exist. But that’s only looking backward. Looking to the future, we never know what advancements may change everything, until they have.

How do we stay planted in a world that is ever shifting and moving?

Psalm 1:3 says we should be planted by streams of water. We should have roots that keep us anchored in a shifting world. But what should we plant ourselves in? What beliefs provide a deep enough foundation to hold us steady when so much can change so quickly?

One of the big Christian ideas, handed down through thousands of years and millions of people, is the community of faith, the Church. God invented Church when he assembled the people of Israel thousands of years

ago. It was a revolutionary idea, and it was, unequivocally, an advancement. Taking time every week to re-center our hectic lives on things above and be with people who are trying to do the same thing, is an essential part of grounding our lives in Christ.

Perhaps you feel that the Church isn’t relevant to your life, but isn’t that the point? Don’t you want to plant yourself in something bigger than your life? If your life is anything like mine, it’s too focused on the here and now anyway; I need a little touch-down of heaven every week.

Be planted in a local church – it’s a really good idea! Let us know if we can help you find a good church to go to this weekend.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. What is the most important invention in human history? How about the last one hundred years?

2. Give an example of a technology we could all throw in the trash and our lives would be better for it.

3. Are you planted on a firm foundation in your life?

4. How do we stay planted in a world that is ever shifting and moving?

5. What is the value of planting yourself in the church? What would need to shift about the church, in your opinion, to make it more relevant to your life?

KEY VERSE( s )

Psalm 1:1-3

1 Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers,

2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night.

LOOKING THROUGH A BIBLE LENS

Core Belief: His Word is truth.

Cultural Lie:

I can do it alone; I don’t need anyone else.

Biblical Worldview:

Scripture demonstrates that we are meant to live in community and a part of the body of believers, and God’s word is truth.

Prayer:

In a world filled with so many distractions, it is difficult to keep our eyes fixed on you. Please Jesus, help turn our eyes to you that we may see the beauty and glory of your face. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Be Refreshed

ARTICLE SUMMARY

We’ve all had the experience of walking a lot and getting tired. And whether it’s a long day at the amusement park or the mandatory water break in a sport, we need to drink water to be refreshed. But how are we refreshed when we become spiritually fatigued? Jesus presents Himself in Psalm 1:3 as a stream of water which nourishes and refreshes the thriving tree. The personal spiritual disciplines of our faith are like water to a parched soul. We need to drink deeply of God’s presence in worship, His love from His community, and His truth and guidance through His word and His Spirit. To thrive in Christ, we must be refreshed through personal discipline and devotion to His ways.

Okay, have you ever heard your mom say this as you’re walking out the door, “Do you have your water bottle?” It seems to me that today moms are much more concerned about their kids’ water consumption than I remember from when I was a kid.

I don’t remember having a water bottle…EVER! I don’t remember anyone outside of a coach or science teacher even mentioning that I should drink water.

When bottles of water started being sold in gas stations, I, and every other person alive, thought, “That’s so stupid, who would ever buy a bottle of water.” Now Berg will sell you water from icebergs for $17 a bottle. Are we certain we’re not being taken for a ride?

Why are Stanley cups so expensive? How in the world are they better than YETI cups in any truly significant way?

I’m not even going to mention ice, because there are crazy people out there who will lose their minds. Okay, well maybe I’ll just list the different kinds of ice: the classic cube, crushed, shaved, chip, hospital, flake, balls, crescent, block, and of course, Chick-fil-A ice, to name a few. And it seems to matter. Isn’t ice just frozen water though?

Has anyone ever said this to you, “You can go forty days without food, but you can only go three days without water before you die!” Well, that’s true, at least as a general rule. But do we really need someone to tell us this? I’m pretty sure we’re all going to take a sip of something before it ever gets to that.

Being thirsty is terrible. Our bodies scream out for something to drink long before we’re in any kind of serious trouble. Also, we can never stop drinking water. You can chug a gallon of it and still be thirsty again in a few hours.

Water is refreshing, but only temporarily.

This is how Jesus captured the attention of the woman at the well in John 4. It was hot, she’d walked a long way, and she was thirsty, so was Jesus. He asked her to give Him a little of that refreshingly all-natural, mineral-rich, Samaria well water. In return He offered her a chance to never thirst again by offering her living water. She got it and ran off to tell everyone about it. (check out the story in John 4:5-30 – more on this next week)

Psalm 63:1 says, “You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water.”

Does your soul thirst for God? Or are you content to chase after the things that will only give you temporary relief? Men and women are created in His image, and He has put a longing in our souls to connect with Him. Through Jesus our souls can be eternally refreshed.

It doesn’t really matter what kind of water you drink, or what kind of bottle you drink it from. It doesn’t matter what kind of ice you use or if you prefer ‘room temperature.’ It doesn’t matter if your water is fortified with minerals or infused with fruit, or whether it’s sparkling, tap, or imported from the nearest iceberg. To refresh your thirsty body, you need to drink water, and then you’ll need to drink water again, and again, and again.

But to refresh your soul-thirst for God you need to be planted by streams of living water. Then, like the woman at the well, when you get this truth, you won’t be able to help telling everyone about it.

Come to Jesus and be refreshed.

KEY VERSE( s )

Psalm 1:1-3

1 Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers,

2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. What kind of water do you prefer? How about ice?

2. Are you Stanley, Yeti or Other?

3. Do you drink enough water on average? What are your strategies for making sure you do?

4. Drinking water is essential for physical survival, what is essential to thrive spiritually?

5. Do you “thirst” after God like the psalmist describes in Psalm 63:1?

LOOKING THROUGH A BIBLE LENS

Core Belief:

Men and women are made in His image.

Cultural Lie:

We only need to be worried about the physical world. “Look good, feel good.”

Biblical Worldview:

Men and women are made in the image of God and are spiritual beings with temporary physical bodies. The body is temporary; the spirit is eternal.

Prayer:

Jesus, we know what it feels like to be hungry and thirsty, tired, worn down, or exasperated. Give us the ability to sense our spiritual thirst that we may thrive in seeking you to be refreshed. In Jesus’ name, amen.

LIVING WATER

Series Summary

Jesus is the foundation of our faith and the source of everything we need to thrive. From three separate stories in the Scripture, we’ll get a sense of the process of moving from living by flesh to living by the Spirit using living water as a symbolic reference.

2024-25 TH E ME VERSE(S)

PSALM 1:1-3

1 Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers,

2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night.

3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers.

Leaky Vessel at Jacob’s Well

ARTICLE SUMMARY

Just like you can’t drink salt water to quench your thirst, you can’t use material stuff to heal spiritual sickness; but we still try. We fill our lives full, avoid bad stuff, and try to escape from betrayal and pain. We buy stuff to pad our lives with comforts and fill our schedules with lots of distractions hoping to quench our spiritual thirst. But these things are leaky vessels; They cannot fulfill or enrich our lives for very long. We are like the woman standing at Jacob’s well in John 4, in the right place trying to solve the problem but putting our hope in a leaky vessel made from clay that will only run dry again. We need a better way.

In 2004, I was standing on the shore of Loch Ness in northern, central Scotland. The tour guide had spent 20 minutes recounting stories of people who had seen Nessie, the mythical sea monster who lives in the lake…allegedly.

While standing on the shore of Loch Ness, I’m embarrassed to admit, I wanted to believe in Nessie, and I hoped she would surface. I lingered just a little past when most of the normal people went back to the bus.

I’d been bitten by the story of Loch Ness. When you’re there, looking at it, you can’t separate the place from its history – it affects you; at least it affected me. There are a lot of places like this – Stonehenge, the Moai on Easter Island, the Mayan Temples, and the Egyptian pyramids. Places like, the tomb of the unknown soldier in Washington, D.C. or the 9/11 Memorial in NYC capture our attention when we see them.

But no matter how memorable or sacred a place may be, it will lose its luster if you pass it every day. I’ve only seen Loch Ness once, but I’m pretty certain daily commuters in Scotland aren’t trying to spot Nessie on their way to work in Inverness. Just like People who work in D.C., live in Tribeca, or work on cruises to Easter Island stop noticing the special places they see all the time too.

The woman at the well in John chapter four was guilty of this blindness. She was drawing water from Jacob’s Well – a historically significant place to the people of God (see Genesis 29). But since she was there every day, it had ceased to be Jacob’s Well and had become just a place to get water.

Perhaps she was coming to the right place for the wrong reasons. Rather than searching for God in the story of her people and waiting in faith for Him to keep His promises, she was just filling her leaky vessel made from temporary materials with water that would only sate her thirst for a moment. Then she’d go home to face the arid reality of her broken life, only to come back again the next day.

Are we very different? Our modern world has promised us happiness and fulfillment, “just keep dipping into the well (your bank account) and take one more drink.” Have we forgotten our history, too? Have we turned our backs on God and His transcendent reality, settling for the stuff He made rather than seeking Him? This woman at the well certainly had.

Then, one day, Jesus showed up. Just like Jacob had showed up to find Rachel at that same well, hundreds of years earlier, Jesus was there, and He asked this woman for some water, “Can I have a drink?”

She was suddenly caught up in a history that God had been planning all along. A story about a nation, and also a story about her. A man speaking to a woman. A Jew speaking to a Samaritan. A Rabbi speaking to one without faith. None of these things should have happened. She was dumbfounded; seemingly on the edge of a fairytale she’d forgotten.

Jesus compassionately told her all she’d ever done, and then she saw the truth, or rather, met Him, and in an instant, she was no longer thirsty. In John 4:28 it says, “[She] leaves her water jar” and tells everyone about Jesus. Of course, she left

her water jar, struck by the awe of the place. It was no longer just a well. It was Jacob’s Well once again, and why would you need a water jar when you’ve found Jesus who made water at the beginning of time?

Matthew 6:31-33 says (paraphrased), “Don’t worry about what you’re going to eat, drink, and wear like worldly people do, God knows you need those things. Instead, seek Him first, and He’ll give you all that stuff too.”

Don’t forget the places you find yourself in are part of the story of God. Stay put and wait for your hope to be revealed. Lift your head and make each day about more than just getting your fill. Jesus is waiting for you at the well, and He knows your story. He longs to fix your leaky heart and give you His living water.

“That person is like a tree planted by streams of water…”

KEY VERSE( s )

John 4:5-10

5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon. 7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”

Matthew 6:31-34

31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. Do you believe the Loch Ness monster exists? How about ghosts, vampires, zombies, aliens?

2. Tell us about a place you’ve visited that impacted you far more profoundly than you would have expected?

3. Tell about a place in your life that used to be very special but because you spent so much time there it’s lost its “magic.”

4. Jacob’s Well was a place of spiritual significance that had become common to the woman who met Jesus there in John 4. What might it have been like for this woman to rediscover the “magic” of that place? Can you relate?

5. Jesus says He has living water to offer. What do you think He means by this?

LOOKING THROUGH A BIBLE LENS

Core Belief: God is highest.

Cultural Lie:

Material possessions can and will fulfill us. Buy the newer, better thing and be happy.

Biblical Worldview:

The world and its treasures are passing away; we will only be fulfilled when we honor God who is highest and store our greatest treasures in heaven.

Prayer:

Jesus, you have everything we need for life and godliness, yet we keep going back to wells that run dry with leaky vessels. Give us a taste of your sustaining love and grace that we might know the fulfillment that comes from fully trusting in you.

Deep Well to Flowing River

ARTICLE SUMMARY

When, at last, we embrace the life of the Spirit we do not just quench our own thirst, satisf ying the gnawing longing for eternity through faith in Jesus, we also become a well of life that springs up for others. Not only do we get what we need most from Jesus, but, through Him, we become what others need. Through the living water Jesus gives, we change from being a leaky vessel, to a living vessel filled to overflowing with living water.

Maybe you know the painful sensation of not being enough. You were cut from the team after giving it your all in tryouts, or you made the team, but then dropped an important pass and let the team down.

You are in a relationship with someone who always seems to be disappointed with you, and no matter what you try, you can’t quite seem to make them happy.

You’re smart, conscientious, and you work hard, and as a result you do very well in school, but no matter how much you study, or how confident you feel, you can’t quite get everything right all the time.

You worked for months for the performance and knew your part perfectly. You’d done it right a hundred times, but somehow when the lights were on, you made a mistake!

In these scenarios and a thousand others, we are confronted with the harsh reality that we don’t have what it takes. The enemy of our souls loves to leverage this reality in his favor. He gets us to turn away from the love and grace of God by suggesting a seemingly innocent idea, “you should be enough.”

But he’s a liar! If I was supposed to be enough, I wouldn’t need God or anyone else, and I could do it all in my own strength. How would a God of love create a universe where we didn’t need to rely on Him; a reality where there was no drive for us to work together and stay together? Even in the Garden of Eden before the fall, Adam was not enough. God

said in Genesis 2:18, “It is not good for man to be alone.” Men and women are made in God’s image; we are made to love each other and God.

No, you are not supposed to be enough. You are supposed to love one another, carry each other’s burdens, and love and trust God. Our nagging sense that we don’t have what it takes is actually the corrupted version of the beacon that points us back to God.

When Jesus saves us, everything changes. In John 7:38 it says, “Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”

In other words, when we meet Jesus at the well, like the woman in John 4, we encounter the living water, and our thirst is satisfied once and for all. But not just that, in God’s mercy, we also become vessels that carry living water to all those around us. Like the woman in John 4 who went and told everyone about Jesus, we become the source of God’s love to those around us.

Now, when you fail you can receive the healing love of Jesus and get back up. When you are hurt by others you can let the love of Jesus flow out of you in forgiveness and heal that relationship.

Jesus describes the fruit of the Holy Spirit in our lives in Galatians 5:22-23 as, “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” You may notice that they are all expressed in community.

When Jesus saves us, He doesn’t eliminate our dependency, He redeems it. He doesn’t make us perfect; He helps us love others, be more patient with them, be kinder and more faithful and gentler toward them.

We come to Jesus, the deep well, and drink of living water, and then we become a river of living water flowing to the world around us.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. What is it like for you to have people who are depending on you to perform/ deliver?

2. Tell a story, about a time you failed to meet someone’s expectations even though you did the best you could. How did you feel about it?

3. Who/what do you turn to when you’re dealing with the disappointment of letting someone else down?

KEY VERSE( s )

John 7:37-39

37 On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” 39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given since Jesus had not yet been glorified.

Galatians 5:22-23

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

4. Jesus invites us to turn to Him when we’ve failed and disappointed others. What might that look like for you?

5. Jesus empowers us, like he did for the woman at the well in John 4, to share the love He extends to us to those around us. Tell about a time you’ve felt used by God to encourage someone.

LOOKING THROUGH A BIBLE LENS

Core Belief:

Jesus is our Lord.

Cultural Lie:

I’m not responsible for other people, nor should I judge them.

Biblical Worldview:

No, Jesus, our Lord, has commanded us to share the love we received from Him with others.

Prayer:

Jesus, you have not left us defenseless, but instead you fill us with all we need to do all you’ve called us to accomplish. Thank you for your generosity, for the desire and capacity to serve others that you put in our hearts, and for leading us to make a difference for those around us. In Jesus’ name, amen.

The River to The Tree of Life

ARTICLE SUMMARY

In my childhood, I sat beside a river in the beautiful warmth and joy of summer and got a glimpse of heaven. But today that river is decayed and broken, and those memories are faded and filled with sorrow and loss. But that’s because this world is not my home and it’s not yours either. There is a day coming when all who know Jesus as Lord and Savior will sit together by a crystal-clear river basking in the beautiful warmth of God’s radiant glory, eating of the tree of life. And this will never fade to memory or fall into decay. It will simply be perfect joy, forever. Seem difficult to believe? Seem like the beginning of a fairy tale? It’s not! It is the promise of God in scripture.

We had a river behind my childhood home. My brothers and sisters and I would spend most days of the summer down there. Finding crayfish, skipping stones against the current, scratching out games of tic tac toe on rocks, catching minnows, laying in the sun, and laughing. I learned to swim in that river. It was central to my childhood life and was a symbol of summer; a time when there was nothing to do in the best possible way.

I took my kids down to see it when we were in NY a couple years ago, because, you know, YOLO, and it had all changed. It was sad going back. The river was so small and dirty. The plot of land across the river had been developed and the river had not benefitted from that progress. It looked so pitiful. I had hyped the river and all the stories from my childhood to my kids so when they saw it, they were not impressed. They were like, “Oh, yeah, nice creek dad…I can see why you loved spending time here.”

That is the way of the world, it’s fallen! Things are always drifting toward decay. That’s why we have to mow our lawns (or have them mowed) every week, we’ve got to trim our trees and cut back our bushes regularly. We’ve got to keep the house picked up, change the oil in our cars, and regularly connect with people we want to have good relationships with. If we don’t, things will drift toward decay.

But this is only how the world we know is, it’s not the world God created, and it’s not the world He will restore once again. In Revelation 22:1-5 we get a glimpse of the new earth God will unveil at the end of the age. There is a crystal-clear river flowing from the thrown of God, watering the tree of life that is loaded down with fruit.

When we are in Christ, we are a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17) and the things that were old, fallen, and decaying are made new. And God is not going to do this with us but leave us in a broken and decaying world. No, He will bring us into a new heaven and a new earth (Revelation 21:4) where there is no more sickness and decay, and all there is to do is enjoy God and worship Him forever.

In my childhood, I sat beside a river in the beautiful warmth and joy of summer and got a glimpse of heaven. But today that river is decayed and broken, and those memories are faded and filled with sorrow and loss. But that’s because this world is not my home and it’s not yours either. There is a day coming when all who know Jesus as Lord and Savior will sit together by the crystal-clear river, basking in the beautiful warmth of God’s radiant glory, eating of the tree of life. And this will never fade to memory or fall into decay, it will simply be perfect joy, forever.

YOLO is actually true. You do only live once, and it’s for eternity. Our bodies will die, but our souls will go into eternity. Either to spend eternity with God in heaven or, having spent our earthly life turning away from Him, without Him in hell.

Jesus is our Lord, is He yours?

KEY VERSE( s )

Revelation 22:1-5

1 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. 3 No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.

LOOKING THROUGH A BIBLE LENS

Core Belief:

Jesus is our Lord.

Cultural Lie:

YOLO! Usually encouraging us to do what feels best in the moment and live life to the fullest.

Biblical Worldview: God is highest, and Jesus is our Lord. He created the world in the beginning, and He is guiding all history to the conclusion He desires where every knee will bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. Describe what YOLO means and a time you’ve used it recently.

2. Talk about a time you felt something was too good to be true, and it turned out you were right; it was too good to be true.

3. Do you have a difficult time accepting good things? Talk about a time you received a gift and were genuinely able to accept and enjoy it. Talk about a time when you were unable to accept and enjoy a gift because of a sense of unworthiness.

4. Describe a memory of some place or someone you used to know that is no longer positive because of what that place or person has become.

5. Our faith declares that we will live on to eternity because we are primarily spiritual beings (i.e. YOLO…for eternity). How could this change the way you live today?

Prayer:

Because we have never seen the majestic beauty of heaven, or the intended perfection of your creation, it is difficult for us to believe that your promise of eternity can be as amazing as you describe in scripture. Give eyes to see into your heart and know your promises are true. In Jesus’ name, amen.

MONEY MATTERS

Series Summary

“A man cannot serve two masters…he cannot serve both God and money.” Money, and what we choose to do about it, matters! In these messages we’ll take a practical look at how to manage money God’s way.

2024-25 TH E ME VERSE(S)

PSALM 1:1-3

1 Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers,

2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night.

3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers.

Put it in the Bank

ARTICLE SUMMARY

Money matters! What we think about it, what we do with it, and whether we have it or not. It is not a neutral part of life. As such, Jesus has specific and often challenging things to say about money. In Matthew 6:19-21 he tells us to place greater emphasis on our investments in heaven than in our investments on earth. But how many of us place our faith in our bank accounts? In the same way that the tree in Psalm 1:3 thrives by being rooted in the bank of a river, we will thrive by rooting ourselves in the bank of Jesus’ living water.

When Micah turned thirteen, I took him to the bank to open up his first checking account. I’m not an expert in finance, and there is much I still need to learn, but I understand how important our beliefs about and skills in managing money are. So, I’m trying to pass on as much as I can to my children.

When we’d finished the paperwork and connected a debit card to the account they took Micah over to the ATM, where he created a PIN. Then the little door at the bottom of the screen opened up, like a hungry beast, and prompted Micah to feed his money into the slot.

I asked Micah how that moment felt, and he said, “It felt like I was going broke.” Since then, he’s discovered the convenience of swiping his debit card at the vending machine and in the snack shop at school. It’s nice having all your money in your pocket any time you want it. But, of course, every swipe decreases the balance in the bank. Money promises us freedom, but can it actually deliver on that promise?

Soon Micah will discover the power of income and money’s true nature will be revealed.

The ATM’s appetite is never satisfied. Micah, like all of us who are paying attention, will eventually discover his appetite is never satisfied either. We’re always hungry too, and our hope is that just a little more will finally satisfy us.

But, instead, our “snacks” just keep getting more expensive. Our time keeps getting more limited. And if you let it, the ATM will begin dictating your days and demanding its food. This cycle does not stop. At no point in your life will the ATM look back at you and say, okay, that’s enough. Ultimately, this ends up in bondage. When the question, “How much money is enough?” was posed to Rockefeller (whose net worth today would be $400 billion, twice that of Bezos and Musk), he calmly replied, “Just a little bit more.”

Jesus is very concerned about this cycle in our lives and gets very pragmatic commenting about the “snacks” we desire in Matthew 6:19-20, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.” In other words, don’t just put your money in the bank on earth to get more stuff on earth, be like a tree planted on the bank of heaven. Let your life be fueled not just by “snacks” but from the living water of Jesus’ love.

Jesus also has a lot to say about the hungry ATM. He describes it as more than just a neutral machine. Listen to what he says about earthly money systems in Matthew 6:24, “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

Money is a ‘god’, and apparently, this little ‘g’ god sees God, who is highest, and is trying to take His spot in our lives.

So, you might be wondering, “what do I do with this?” Jesus’ answer to some pharisees who were asking about money may help us here. He said in Mark 12:17, “Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.”

In other words, you must live in the world and work within the systems of the world, paying taxes and your bills, enjoying the fruits of your labor, and feeding the ATM regularly. But you must never forget God. And we must never let the ATM demand more from us than it has the right to claim. God is Highest, not money, and we CANNOT serve both.

Choose this day who you will serve.

KEY VERSE( s )

Matthew 6:19-21

19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Matthew 6:24-26

“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

Mark 12:17

Then Jesus said to them, “Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.” And they were amazed at him.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. When did you first get a bank account (or get a green light card)?

2. What lessons have you learned from having access to and/or freedom to spend money?

3. As you think about your money habits, do you prioritize saving? Are you good at denying the things you want now in favor of better things you may want or need later?

4. How does the way in which you spend (or save) money reflect the way you trust in (or not) God?

5. The spiritual principle of self-sacrifice can be rehearsed in your financial practices. How do you think that might happen?

LOOKING THROUGH A BIBLE LENS

Core Belief: God is highest.

Cultural Lie:

If I get enough money, I will be happy, protected, and safe.

Biblical Worldview: God is highest, He’s the only one who can satisfy, protect, and keeps us safe. “You cannot serve both God and money.”

Prayer:

Jesus, you made it clear to us in scripture that money is competing against you for our allegiance. Our fears, anxieties, and insecurities prey on us and produce a temptation to trust money and that is difficult to resist. In light of this temptation, we pray with the disciples, “give us today our daily bread, and forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” In Jesus’ name, amen.

Wait for it

ARTICLE SUMMARY

Waiting is hard because it’s ultimately about denying ourselves, and we don’t want to deny ourselves. But, in denying myself the things I want today, I often get the things I really want and need later. To become a successful investor, for example, you have to get used to waiting. Sadly, our desire to get what we want now is steadily decreasing our ability to wait, costing us dearly in the long run. If this matters with money, it absolutely matters with our souls. “What does it matter if a man gains the world, but loses his soul?” Jesus asks. How do we respond? Wait for it…

“That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, that yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither –whatever they do prospers.” In other words, if I want fruit from my mango tree any other time of the year, too bad, I’ve got to wait for it.

Walter Mischel of Stanford University conducted a psychological study between 1967 and 1973 studying delayed gratification in small children using marshmallows. He told children they could have one marshmallow now or many later.

A few children were willing to wait. Others waited but struggled mightily. A few children wouldn’t wait for the scientist to finish explaining the “game” and gobbled the marshmallow immediately.

The ability to say ‘No’ now, in order to say a better ‘Yes’ later is VERY important. Are you willing to wait?

Maybe you’re thinking, “What’s the big deal? I’ll get what I want now and later, I don’t have to wait.” In today’s world, this feels true; you can become an influencer overnight, right?

Maybe so, but will you be prepared to handle the pressure, money, attention, and criticism overnight? There are some things you cannot get without waiting.

Whether it’s a well-cooked steak, a well-told story, or a good doctor, if you want great, you’ll have to wait. Proverbs 21:20 says, “The wise store up choice food and olive oil, but fools gulp theirs down.”

Most of the characteristics of relationships we truly desire like trust, loyalty, intimacy, and security come with time. Things like wisdom, influence, fulfillment, and peace, cannot be rushed. Businesses take time to become established and grow. Your body needs time to heal when it’s sick or injured. The rewards for waiting cannot be denied, and the consequences of not waiting are also undeniable.

Consider financial investing as a concrete example of the consequences of not waiting. Investing money requires sacrificing something you could get now. In other words, investing is about waiting on the return and it’s worth the wait.

If you put $10,000 in a Roth IRA, at 18 and leave it there until you retire at 65, you’ll have $225,000. But if you spend that $10,000 dollars now and don’t scrape another $10,000 together to invest until five years later, at 23, when you retire at 65, you’ll only have $160,000. That’s 30% of your potential wealth, gone in just 5 years because you couldn’t wait.

Waiting is about denying ourselves. When I deny myself something I want today, I often get something I really want and/or need later.

Jesus wants us to deny ourselves, and pick up our cross daily, and follow Him. This is what He says in Matthew 16:24-26, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 25 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. 26 What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give

in exchange for their soul?” In other words, the life you get by taking it now is nothing compared to the life Jesus will give you if you wait for it.

Okay, so here’s a challenge to try…wait for it…The next time your phone buzzes with an alert, see if you can wait to look. Give it 10 seconds or try for 30 seconds or an hour.

How did you do? Did you “take the marshmallow?” Here’s something to ponder: if not looking at your phone is hard for you: is it still something you “want”? If things in your life, (phone, friends, food, finances, fashion, fame etc.) dictate what you do and when you do it, are you really free?

Try Jesus’ way and deny yourself. Lay down your life and follow Him and see if He doesn’t give you back the life you really want, a prosperous one filled with freedom, purpose, and fulfillment.

KEY VERSE( s )

Matthew 6:24-26

“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. Therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?”

Proverbs 10:4

4 Lazy hands make for poverty, but diligent hands bring wealth.

Proverbs 21:20

20 The wise store up choice food and olive oil, but fools gulp theirs down.

Proverbs 21:21

21 Whoever pursues righteousness and love finds life, prosperity[a] and honor.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. Talk about an influencer who came into “over-night” fame and crumbled under the pressure?

2. Talk about the potential downside of a world where you could get whatever you want, whenever you wanted it?

3. As much as we don’t like waiting for things, talk about the value that comes from situations where we have to wait?

4. Give an example of a situation were waiting for something is part of the experience and actually adds to the value of the experience.

5. In your spiritual life saying “No” now in order to say a better “Yes” later is essential. Talk about a time you were able to do this recently.

LOOKING THROUGH A BIBLE LENS

Core Belief: We are truly free in Christ.

Cultural Lie: Live for today!

Biblical Worldview: Living for eternity is possible because we are truly free in Christ.

Prayer: Jesus, waiting is difficult, and we often faint in the process. But when we wait on you the fullness of your plan for us is able to flow in and through our lives in a way that is best for us. Help us to trust and wait on you. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Deal with Your Debt

ARTICLE SUMMARY

Debt MUST be paid. The habit of spending more than you earn will not go well for you. Even the luxuries you enjoy on borrowed money will ultimately lose their luster when the bill comes due. The scripture has a lot to say about debt like, “the borrower is slave to the lender.” and “sin is a debt that must be paid to God.” How we live our financial lives gives us a clue as to our beliefs about life in general. If we wrack up debt to get stuff, chances are really good we’re also neglecting our debts with God. Instead, tr y to live debt free. Avoid using credit or borrowed money to get the thing you want now. Work a little to earn some money and feel the satisfaction of paying your way. And, instead of gambling your life on the belief that there will be no eternal consequences for leaving your debt of sin unpaid, trust in Christ and have peace in your soul.

I saw a commercial the other day where a mid-twenties guy wanted to rent a really nice apartment, but he couldn’t because he had really low credit. Then a moneylender promised him an immediate 20-point increase in his credit score. He smiled, and the commercial spot ended with him lounging happily in a luxury apartment looking very relaxed.

Okay, so why is this commercial so misleading? Well, here’s the basics of how credit works. If you’re good with money (you make it, spend it responsibly, and pay your bills) you’ll have “good credit”. If you’re not good with money (you spend more than you make, and don’t pay your bills) you’ll have “bad credit”.

So, the implication in this commercial is: “You don’t have to deal with your debts, just pay us money and we’ll help you get everything you want right now.”

I worked with a guy (we’ll call him Adam) who didn’t have a license. He should never have gotten the job because it required him to drive, but he’d been deceptive on the application. It didn’t work! Within six weeks he was in my office for repeatedly being late.

It turned out, Adam had neglected to pay some tickets five years before. The fines and court fees became overwhelming and rather than dealing with it, he packed up and moved. But the courts don’t tolerate outstanding debts and eventually they suspended his license. All he needed to do was pay his debt and he could get his license renewed. He was good at

the job, and worked hard when he was there, so I wanted to fight for him to get this fixed.

Well, it wasn’t that simple. Adam owed a lot of people money and had made a lot of friends and family angry along the way. So even though the amount of money required for him to get his license was relatively small, his overall debts, both financial and relational, left him paralyzed. He dragged his feet for two weeks trying to squirm out of dealing with it, but eventually, I had to let him go as an employee. It was very sad, but he needed a license to do the job, and to get a license he needed to deal with his debts.

In Matthew 18:21-35 Peter is asking Jesus about forgiveness. “How many times should I forgive my brother?” Peter asks. Jesus says, “every time!” and then in response to the shocked look on Peter’s face Jesus tells him a parable about a man, like Adam, who was in a lot of debt. Jesus says, (paraphrased) imagine this man has all his debt forgiven by the judge, but then goes out and demands that someone else pay him the few dollars they own him. He was just set free by the judge’s debt forgiveness; shouldn’t he extend that same debt forgiveness to his brother? The obvious answer is yes!

The spiritual truth is if you don’t trust in Jesus, you are in debt to God because of your sin. You have swiped the debit card of pride, selfishness, arrogance, lust, envy, laziness, and whatever else, and accrued a debt that can only be paid with your life (you can’t just buy 20 points to boost your spiritual credit score!). But Jesus never accrued any debt

to God. Instead, He amassed spiritual wealth so vast that when He died on the cross, He left enough behind to pay the debts of any who trust in Him. And since He rose again, He presides as legal defense in the courts of heaven for all those who trust in His name. Imagine, if we could have our spiritual debts forgiven by God? We can, through Jesus Christ!

Three years after I let Adam go, I got an email from him out of the blue. The subject line said, “I got it!!!!!!!!!!”. And when I opened the email there was a picture of his new license. He had dealt with his debts. I felt emotional thinking about all he must have gone through, and relieved for him to be free of that crushing burden. How much more must our Father in heaven desire that we accept the gift of Jesus’ death and resurrection that we might be free of our eternal debt and thrive?

KEY VERSE( s )

Matthew 6:24-26

“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. Therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?”

Proverbs 22:7

7 The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is slave to the lender.

Proverbs 6:6-8

6 Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise!

7 It has no commander, no overseer or ruler,

8 yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. What’s the funniest/dumbest/mostmemorable ad you’ve seen recently?

2. Have you ever gotten sucked in by an ad and purchased or downloaded s omething that you regretted?

3. Who is ultimately responsible for making sure that you make good decisions financially, emotionally, relationally, spiritually?

4. Is there anything in your life you know you need to do something about, but keep avoiding? What would it look like to take the first step toward changing that thing for the good?

5. Jesus never backed down from His responsibilities, He stepped up and did what was necessary. How can you shift your life to more reflect the responsible example of Jesus?

LOOKING THROUGH A BIBLE LENS

Core Belief:

We are truly free in Christ.

Cultural Lie:

It’s not my fault.

Biblical Worldview:

We can take responsibility for our lives because we are truly free in Christ.

Prayer:

Jesus, for fear, anger, laziness, ignorance, and a whole host of other things we tend to avoid addressing the parts of our lives that are hard and uncomfortable to deal with. Give us the courage necessary to stand firm and look straight at those things. Empower us with your grace to take responsibility for our lives and find true freedom in you. In Jesus’ name, amen.

WITHERED

Series Summary

The gap between where we’ve come from and where we’re going is just wide enough that we cannot apprehend the future until we let go of the past. This truth is illustrated when God withers what’s old to reveal the new. When we think of thriving, we probably skip right over the pruning process, but until we trim away the unwanted parts, what’s good cannot thrive.

2024-25 TH E ME VERSE(S)

PSALM 1:1-3

1 Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers,

2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night.

3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers.

Time is Withering Away

ARTICLE SUMMARY

Because God’s plans are higher than ours, we often get things wrong. We think we have control because we think we have time. We can afford to neglect our spiritual lives for now, “I’ll get to it later” we think. For most of us, this is true, the average life span in the U.S. is 76 years. When you’re 16, 60 more years feels like an eternity, but against the backdrop of eternity it is barely a speck of dust. Time slips away from us. And every moment of every day we are in a battle, fighting to become more like Jesus and approach Him in heaven with joy, or giving in to the counter current of the world and floating farther away from Him in the slip stream of sin. When we trust in God who is highest, we gain access to His eternal perspective; What a blessing! The things that used to keep us in bondage, that used to cripple us with anxiety, no longer hold us because we know that time is fleeting. Our priorities fall into place and our steps become clear when the one who planned the course of human histor y takes the reins of our heart. Time is withering away, but God, who is outside of time, invites us to know Him and the power of His resurrection that we may sit with Him in the timeless paradise of heaven. Make ever y moment count by submitting it to God.

Buzzer beaters! The ultimate hero moment in sports. The team’s down by two. It’s going to take a three pointer to win the game, but Curry has the ball. The crowd is tense with anticipation. Swish. AHHHHHH!!!!

Down by three points, we just need to get to field goal range. Offensive pass interference the ball is placed at the spot of the fowl. Three yards to go and only 6 seconds on the clock. No one has any fingernails left. Hike! Quarterback sneak. TOUCHDOWN!!!!! AHHHHHH!!!!!

We know we’re playing against the clock. Some of us procrastinate because the pressure of the last-minute shot for the win gives us a jolt of adrenaline like none other. We love the game because it reminds us of the struggle we face in life with one major difference: the significance changes based on how much time is left.

If we’re in the first quarter, a last-minute play is exciting, but there’s still more time. If the last-minute play is made on the second game of the season, it’s awesome, but there’s a long road ahead. If the last-minute play is made in the Superbowl, it’s phenomenal, but there’s always next season and our best players may be recruited away.

In the Bible God is trying to help us understand an important principle about time when He says, “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” (Psalm 90:12) and “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” (Ecclesiastes 3:11).

We don’t have much time left. “But I’m only 12 (or 15, or 35)!” you object, but viewed from the perspective of eternity, your (and my) 76 years are barely a blip. What do we do with the time we have?

We can live our lives like every minute of every day is a buzzer beater shot! God is presiding over an epic battle between heaven and hell and He’s calling the plays. He’s put the ball in your hands and expects you to take the shot.

Jesus is not trying to steal our minutes away and keep us from having fun, He’s inviting us into the greatest adventure

KEY VERSE( s )

Psalm 90:12

12 Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

Ecclesiastes 3:11

11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.

LOOKING THROUGH A BIBLE LENS

Core Belief: God is highest.

Cultural Lie: Live for the moment; we’ve got all the time in the world.

Biblical Worldview: God is highest, and His will prevails. We are not promised tomorrow.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. What’s your favorite sport to watch/ play? What do you love about it?

2. What’s the most memorable buzzer-beater shot you’ve seen?

3. Why do you think we get so wrapped up in plays, games, and teams we love? Have you ever considered we see them as little microcosms (smaller, living examples of) of our lives?

4. Try to explain eternity in your own words. How long is 76 years relative to eternity?

5. God is Lord over time and before anything was, He was there, and after everything has passed away, He will be there. What do you think about that?

Prayer:

God, you are the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end. To you a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years is but a day. You can see all of time in one glance and yet, chose to step into time and walk faithfully with us so that we might know you. Give us an eternal perspective, or as much of it as is necessary that we may use the moments you’ve given us to bring you glory. In Jesus’ name, amen.

The Withered Fig Tree

ARTICLE SUMMARY

In Matthew 21:19, Jesus withers a tree for not producing figs?! The disciples are shocked and ask Him about it. Instead of getting a clear answer, Jesus tells them they can toss a mountain into the sea with a prayer. What?! What is Jesus talking about? The disciples are wondering the same thing but then when they arrive back in the city, the meaning of Jesus’ actions is put on display as he systematically breaks apart the hypocritical religious ideologies of those in power. Jesus previewed for the disciples in withering the fig tree, what he was about to do in tearing down the human-made religious barriers keeping people from Him. Sometimes to move forward, we have to let go of what’s holding us back. Sometimes to bear fruit, we need to be pruned. Sometimes to grow in God, we need to allow Him to cut away the things that are keeping us from Him.

Have you ever seen someone lose their cool over something that, to you, feels pretty small? Maybe it happened in class. Someone gets fed up and lashes out and no one knows why. Maybe you’ve seen your parents do it, and all of a sudden, you’re in trouble, and you don’t know why. Maybe you’ve seen someone lose it in a restaurant or in traffic.

I think, had we been one of the disciples, we might have felt that way about Jesus on the day He was leading them back into the city. in Matthew 21 Jesus walks up to a fig tree to get some figs because he’s hungry. But this fig tree didn’t have fruit, so Jesus curses it, and it withers and dies! What?!

When He was tempted in the desert after fasting for 40 days the devil tried to get Him to turn rocks to bread so He could eat and He was like, “Nah, I’m good.” But now he needs a snack and because this poor fig tree doesn’t have any figs it gets zapped. Seems a little extra, right?

What’s the big deal about a fig tree that doesn’t produce fruit, anyway? Well, just like with your classmate, and your parents, and the person at the restaurant and in traffic, there’s probably more to the story.

There is! In Scripture, Israel, the people of God, are represented using the symbol of figs on a fig tree. Consider Hosea 9:10, “When I found Israel, it was like finding grapes

in the desert; when I saw your ancestors, it was like seeing the early fruit on the fig tree. But when they came to Baal Peor, they consecrated themselves to that shameful idol and became as vile as the thing they loved.” Do you see it? Jesus, in His actions, was referencing this well-known prophecy from Hosea. In this passage it’s prophesied that the curse of Israel’s disobedience will be to wither. In verse 16 of the same chapter, Hosea goes on to say as much, “Ephraim is blighted, their root is withered, they yield no fruit.”

Jesus went on from the withered fig tree and was subjected to hours of questioning by religious leaders who were trying to trap him. Jesus handled Himself perfectly, and at the end of their failed mock trial, the religious leaders “assembled in the palace of the high priest and plotted to arrest Jesus and kill him.” (Matthew 26:3-4). Jesus anticipated the whole thing when He withered the fig tree.

What about us?

I had a conversation with a student the other day who was struggling watching a friend make decisions that were hurting himself and others. He felt trapped, and told me, “I want to confront him and help, but I’m not supposed to judge him.” We talked about the difference between judgement and discernment.

We cannot “judge” our friends for the things they do that go against God because we don’t have that authority. We can’t know the full story, and we are sinners ourselves. How can we judge our friends when we’re guilty. On the other hand, if you know the truth, you can spot a lie, i.e. you can discern where someone may be struggling with a blind spot or being deceived. The loving thing to do for your friend in that situation is to humbly tell them the truth. Perhaps you’ll spare them from needless pain and sorrow. If someone you know is pursuing a fruitless goal, don’t just leave them barren, call them on it.

We, as believers in Jesus Christ, the promised Messiah, are called to be like a tree planted by streams of water which yields its fruit in season. We are called to bear fruit. We are called to love each other well by bearing each other’s burden spurring each other on toward love and good deeds (Galatians 6 & Hebrews 10).

KEY VERSE( s )

Matthew 21:19

19 Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then he said to it, “May you never bear fruit again!” Immediately the tree withered.

Hosea 9:10 & 16

10 When I found Israel, it was like finding grapes in the desert; when I saw your ancestors, it was like seeing the early fruit on the fig tree. But when they came to Baal Peor, they consecrated themselves to that shameful idol and became as vile as the thing they loved.

16 Ephraim is blighted, their root is withered, they yield no fruit.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. Tell about a time you saw someone lose their cool over something that, to you, felt pretty small?

2. All of us have stood by as someone we love did things we knew were bad for them and others. How should a true friend act in this kind of situation?

3. Is it possible to truly love someone and judge them at the same time?

4. If you can clearly see how someone might change their behavior in a way that will make their life better, when is it right to share your perspective with them?

5. What do you think about this statement, “Jesus loves us enough to forgive us of our sins, but He loves us too much to leave us in them.”?

LOOKING THROUGH A BIBLE LENS

Core Belief:

Men and women are made in His image.

Cultural Lie:

I am who I am, and no one should judge me.

Biblical Worldview:

Men and Women are made in the image of God and are fulfilled by living out His purpose for them.

Prayer:

Jesus, our guilt and shame leads us to be tentative and hesitant in dealing with those around us. We know we’re guilty, so we don’t want to put ourselves out there in case our own sins are found out. But it is so challenging to watch people we love hurt themselves. Give us the courage to be good friends. Give us the strength to rise above our own temptations and sins. In Jesus’ name, amen.

The Man’s Hand

ARTICLE SUMMARY

Sometimes we find ourselves in a place requiring faith, but our brokenness makes it seem impossible to have it. In a passing moment in Matthew 12:10 a man with a withered hand was in that kind of place. Jesus walked into the temple where the man with a withered hand was worshipping. Suddenly, this man became a prop in a plot the pharisees were using to try and trap Jesus. We know nothing about the man, how he ended up with a withered hand, or even if he was looking to get healed, but Jesus seized the opportunity to teach the Pharisees an important lesson. He turned to the man and said, “stretch out your hand.” Can a man whose hand is withered stretch it out? No! Jesus was putting this man on the spot to have faith, in the ver y place where he felt he had no strength. This man responded to Jesus’ command with faith and his healed hand became irrefutable evidence for the people in that room that Jesus was the Messiah.

Have you ever said this phrase, “I’m bored!”? Stop it, immediately!

Being bored is an indictment on you, not on the circumstances or the people around you. That’s why if you ever say, “I’m bored” around me, my response will often be, “There are no boring circumstances, only boring people.” And then I’ll attempt to help you discover something exciting to do in that moment.

What is being bored? Maybe a lack of creativity, combined with a purposeless listlessness. Maybe it’s laziness, or procrastination. Maybe it’s latent frustration or a sign of some hidden dependency you’ve been deprived of (ahem, like your phone!).

Boredom could also be about fear. It’s hard to step out of things you’re comfortable doing. It’s hard to meet new people, try new things, run an experiment, test the waters, and stretch your mind. To thrive you’ll need to get good at never being bored and solving your boredom requires you to stretch your faith, to step out into the unknown on an adventure. Or you can just play another game of Brawl Stars…BORING!!

Faith is tricky, because by definition, if we know the outcome already it’s not faith. To act in faith means to confront the unknown; to act in faith means to get good at learning, growing, and stretching forward.

Consider the story of the man with the withered hand in Matthew 12:10. Jesus asked him to stretch out his hand, even though it was withered. A strange request! Jesus asked him to do something that it was obvious to everyone he was incapable of doing. Why? Because to do it the man would have to believe Jesus’ word, before he had proof. That’s what Jesus wants from us, to stretch our faith toward Him and trust Him

This man’s actions also served as an excellent object lesson for confronting the legalism of the Pharisees who had all sorts of laws about what can and can’t be done on the sabbath.

The Pharisees didn’t understand God’s heart. They heard His command to rest on the sabbath day and assumed it only meant – do no work. How boring, right?

Jesus used this man to illustrate that the day of rest (the sabbath) was not a wasted, boring, do-nothing day; it was a day of recovery, and worship. It was a day where we get to stretch out our faith and believe God. We don’t have to live with a crippled hand, or in modern terms, like we’ve got one hand tied behind our back. We can stretch out our faith to God and watch him multiply that faith to all those around us.

Stop allowing yourself to use the lame phrase, “I’m bored.” Life is too short, and God has too much in mind for you to do to settle for such a wasteful idea. With Jesus, even the simplest and most mundane of moments can miraculously transform into an eternal investment if you’ll stretch out your hand to God and believe.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. Share about the most recent time you can think of when you used the phrase, “I’m bored”.

2. Why is the phrase, “I’m bored” such a lame phrase? What other phrases could you use to describe the same situations that would be more honest, or proactive?

3. Why do you think God commanded His people to rest for one day a week?

4. How might your life be different if you could not work or do anything for one day in a week? How would the other days change? Would it be better or worse?

KEY VERSE( s )

Matthew 12:10

10 and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Looking for a reason to bring charges against Jesus, [the pharisees] asked Him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”

LOOKING THROUGH A BIBLE LENS

Core Belief:

Jesus is our Lord.

Cultural Lie:

Wholeness, fulfillment, and happiness are all found inside of you or in the people and places around you.

Biblical Worldview:

Jesus is our Lord, and our wholeness, fulfillment, and happiness is in Him.

5. Does your schedule reflect God’s command to rest? Do you regularly take time each week to stop, worship, pray, and rest?

Prayer:

God, you knew that you needed to command us to rest, because our drive for independence is so great, working is inevitable. Thank you for revealing your goodness in the gift of the sabbath. Give us courage to say no to the world that clambers for our attention seeking to distract us into exhaustion that we might rest in you. In Jesus’ name, amen.

YIELDS

Series Summary

“Yields” is a strange word. Consider this sentence, “The farmer yields to the weather, to ensure the field yields its proper harvest.” How can a word mean both to submit to and to produce? And what of the third meaning that means to hesitate or slow down, like at an intersection? In our verse we discover that the person who abides in Jesus will “yield” their fruit in season, which is great news... ultimately, but I think there’s more going on here than the passage at first yields.

2024-25 TH E ME VERSE(S)

PSALM 1:1-3

1 Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers,

2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night.

3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers.

Yield to Rest ARTICLE SUMMARY

Tuesday, November 5, 2024 - it’s election day. For some of you it is the first time you’ve ever been eligible to vote, and you should definitely vote. It is a privilege that should not be taken for granted. When you vote, you may experience a flash of anxiety. It’s a lot of weight to cast your vote for the president of the United States. And maybe this kind of anxiety is okay. It pushes us to take important moments seriously. But there is a different kind of anxiety, the kind that comes from us trying to take control over stuff that is above us. God does not want us to be anxious about things we cannot control. In Exodus 20:8-11, God commands us to rest. “Impossible!” we think. How can we take a whole day to rest and still get everything done? I don’t know, but I wonder if perhaps God doesn’t intend for us to get everything done, but instead desires that through the things we do we could know and honor Him. We need to yield to God, and He has commanded us to rest, so what does He mean by this?

Electing the president of the United States is a weighty decision. Stepping into the voting booth, especially if it’s your first-time voting, can feel overwhelming. The thought, “What if I pick wrong?” may come floating, unbidden into your mind, leaving you feeling the weight of the potentially life-altering vote you’re about to cast. The U.S. presidency is a tremendously important position with global and historical implications, and we get to cast our vote.

These big moments produce anxiety and maybe it’s appropriate. But what about the anxiety we feel in other less significant moments?

For example, a teacher asks to see you after class and you’re not sure why. Or you receive an ambiguous DM from someone you’re close to, and it feels off. Maybe, you realize halfway to school that your shirt has a stain on it, and it leaves you anxious about what your friends will say. Are these moments, though important in their own way, significant enough to warrant anxiety?

God understands how our physiology works, He made us. He knows about our fight or flight response, how our eyes dilate, and our stomach suddenly feels empty. He knows that the first thing we’re going to do when we get to school is head to the bathroom to remove the stain or fidget uncomfortably until we find out what the teacher wants or

feel the weight of the vote we’re about to cast. He made us to be responsible; to take ownership of ourselves and care for those around us and to do important work in the world. We have been made to “fill the earth and subdue it.” But because of sin we cannot do this work perfectly and the places where we fail or are limited produce anxiety.

In other words, before sin, we had a job to do. But then sin came into the world, and now that desire to work is twisted, just like everything else. God knows this too, so He commanded us to, “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.”

(Exodus 20:8-11)

God knew in our sin we would try to take on too much and bury ourselves in burdens we were not designed to carry so He commanded us to rest. But it was not just a command, it was also a gift. How are you doing, with the sabbath? Do you feel free to take a day to rest amid everything that needs to happen? Are you able to let go of the anxieties, big and small, that attempt to overrun your inner thoughts?

As we heard last week, “the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.”

God desires that you would come to Him to find rest for your weary soul and let go of all the things you cannot control, that you might find peace in His presence now. If you want to thrive, you’ll need to yield to both God’s command and His gift of the Sabbath? Then, even on election day, you can find rest for your soul.

KEY VERSE( s )

Exodus 20: 8-11

8 “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

Genesis 1:28

God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. It’s a crazy week! How have you been personally affected by this presidential election season?

2. Anxiety is often cited as a heightened and increasing issue for this generation. Why is that?

3. Why do we drive ourselves to achieve so much?

4. What does it mean in Genesis 1:28 that we are supposed to subdue the earth? What is God saying about our role in His creation as He uses these words?

5. When does humanity’s command to rule over and subdue the earth tip over into the sin of exploitation and greed? How do we strike a balance?

LOOKING THROUGH A BIBLE LENS

Core Belief:

God is highest.

Cultural Lie:

My future and success depend on me, and I’ve got to hustle to get ahead.

Biblical Worldview:

God, who is highest, is the author of my story and he has my future in His hands, so I need to trust and rest in Him.

Prayer:

Jesus, you have honored us with such tremendous responsibility and opportunity to participate with you in the ongoing act of creation. You also knew that we would take it too far and land ourselves in sin. Guide us to do the work you’ve called us to and rest according to your will so that we will be able to celebrate our progress and then let go of the pressure and worship you. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Yielding Results

ARTICLE SUMMARY

In Matthew 3, Jesus uses the analogy of a tree that does not produce fruit to rebuke arrogant, religious leaders. He tells them to, “produce fruit in keeping with repentance,” and if they don’t, he threatens, “the axe is already at the root of the tree to be cut down and thrown into the fire.” We should heed this warning! We are supposed to thrive which includes yielding fruit. Have you submitted your life to Jesus, that He can give you a new heart and set you free from sin? If so, then there will be fruit in your life revealing the presence of the Holy Spirit. Produce fruit in keeping with repentance, and if you’re greatest efforts come up short, which they absolutely will, then use your discouragement as fuel to drive you to deeper dependence on Jesus.

We are not saved by works; we are saved for them.

In other words, Jesus is not just our Savior, He is our Lord.

What does this mean? Well, for the sake of analogy, think about getting into a good school. While you’re writing essays and sending out applications it feels overwhelming –and it is. But writing an essay to get into a school is nothing compared to the many essays you’ll need to write to graduate four years later.

Getting a job is the same way. It takes very little effort to get a job (relatively speaking), but to keep the job, you have to do a lot of work every day.

One day after you get married to someone you plan on being with for life, you may have children. You’ll discover that it doesn’t take much to become a father. It takes more to become a mother. But to be a good father or mother is all consuming.

There’s a pattern to all these examples that the amount of work it takes to get something is a fraction of what is required to succeed once you’ve gotten it. In fact, there’s an old cautionary adage for those of us who are always gazing to the horizon for the next best thing, “be careful how much you fight to get what you want, because you may not want what you get.”

This is true in our faith, but to the fullest extent. Salvation is a gift of God, meaning we do not do anything to earn God’s gift of salvation. We don’t write an essay, get extra credit for our good ACT (pun intended), no application required. Instead, God in His sovereignty, did all the work to make a place for those whom He calls. It says in Ephesians 2:8-9, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.”

But we are not saved just to kick back and chill. We are saved for a purpose, just like getting into a school, or getting a job, or becoming a parent. Now that you’ve got salvation, there’s work to do and a purpose to be fulfilled. Psalm 1:3 says, “to yield fruit in season,” but Ephesians 2:10 says it too, “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

You can’t tell your college professor that you deserve an “A” because your application essay was great. You can’t tell your boss that you deserve a raise because your resumé was a wesome. You can’t be a good parent simply because you did what was necessary to make a child. And you can’t expect God to be okay with your life with Him to consist of salvation alone. That would be dumb. We need to feel the weight of responsibility to honor God with our lives when the price of admission to His kingdom was the death of Jesus.

Besides, the real adventure of the Christian life is in Jesus simple calling, follow me. Who knows where He’ll take you, but if He saved you then He’s your Lord, and if He’s your Lord, then get ready for an amazing journey.

KEY VERSE( s )

Matthew 3:8

8 Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.

Luke 13:8-9

8 “‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. 9 If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.’”

Ephesians 2:8-10

8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

LOOKING THROUGH A BIBLE LENS

Core Belief:

Jesus is our Lord.

Cultural Lie: The Christian life is boring.

Biblical Worldview:

Jesus’ plan for your life is exponentially better than any plan without Him. He saved you to do good works.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. What do you think your teachers might say if you tried to use the excuse that you don’t need to do your work, because your parents did a good job filling out the application for you to be in the school?

2. Talk about a time you’ve had to apply to get a job, or get into a school, or be part of a production. What was the process like? Was the process to get in more involved than the experience of being in?

3. What do you think about the phrase, “We are not saved by works; we are saved for them.”?

4. What is the difference between Jesus our Savior and Jesus our Lord?

5. What are the “good works prepared in advance for us to do” as described by Paul in Ephesians 2:10?

Prayer:

Jesus, thank you for rescuing us from death and hell. We could not do it on our own while dead in our sins, and your sacrifice made a way. May we respond to your eternal gift with an equal sacrifice in this life and use all you’ve given us to serve you and your purpose by doing the good works you’ve prepared in advance for us to do. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Yielding in Humility

ARTICLE SUMMARY

The last meaning of “yield” is submission. We don’t like the word submission, but we do it all the time. In the positive sense we submit work we’ve done for review. We pause and wait for people to pass on the sidewalk, we defer to our friends in conversation, we accept certain positions on the team. We also must submit to things out of our control, like lightning alerts, the danger of threatening wild animals, and addictions that have overruled our ability to make rational choices. The word submission conjures up images of bullies putting kids in headlocks and angry people cowing weaker subordinates. But is the problem with the word submission or those who abuse power? And what about God? What does it mean to submit to God’s way? Can He be trusted? Many have said He can’t be trusted. That He is tyrannical, controlling, and restrictive. What do you think?

When you come to a four-way stop, what do you do? Well, what you should do is follow the rules which are, after a complete stop, 1) the first to arrive goes first, 2) the person on the right goes first, 3) the person going straight goes first. These rules don’t always work and can get confusing sometimes, but generally, they keep us sane.

I lived in Canada for several years, and the culture there is far more deferential than the culture in the US. So, four-way stops were a nightmare. Their rule seems to be, don’t-evergo-until-everyone-else-agrees-to-invite-you-to-go-with-aminimum-of-three-polite-hand-gestures-that-obviously-imply“No, you go first, sorry.” You’d sit there for hours!

Can you imagine, in Miami… Miami drivers use a lot of hand gestures at four-way stops too, emphasizing the only universally accepted traffic rule in our city, “me first.”

The four-way stop illustrates submission, and how people act at four-way stops can serve to illustrate what individuals believe about submission. The “me first” mentality that rejects all submission to rules and/or others is dangerous and causes accidents and social strife. The Canadian, “you first, always” mentality creates delays, inefficiency and confusion, while, ironically, also creating social strife. The middle ground is the obvious choice where there is appropriate submission to reasonable rules.

So, what is appropriate submission? How much of my personal freedom/autonomy should I be willing to give up in order to live in a society that works?

What about reasonable rules? Who gets to make them and enforce them? Once they’ve been made, should we trust them from then on? What is our process for changing rules? How much should rules protect my personal freedom/autonomy?

These questions are not arbitrary, they go straight to the heart of what it means to be human. We are not ants. We’re not machines that behave predictably. But we also can’t do this on our own, we need each other. If only there was a supreme power that was also ultimately good!

Many have tried to paint the God of the Bible as tyrannical, controlling, and restrictive. But that doesn’t make sense. God, by definition, must be all-powerful. But God, by definition is also perfectly Good. If God was only all-powerful and not good, why have we had so much freedom through all of history to determine our own laws? And why are there so many different cultures and ways of existing in the world, many of which do not align with God’s will?

No, something else is at play here. God is all-powerful, he has to be, but he doesn’t use that power to subjugate us at all. Instead, He offers His love to invite us to submit to His ways. In Romans 5:8 it says, “God has demonstrated His own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Then He uses His power to turn the circumstances of history so that, “We [can] know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28.

That isn’t tyrannical! That’s a really good father! Submission to God, doesn’t mean bondage, it means true freedom; freedom from addiction, freedom from the tyranny of other powers that seek to subjugate us for selfish gain, freedom from even the ultimate consequences of sin and death. It’s an incredible deal.

So, what do we do? “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:6-7.

In other words, humbly yield your life to our good, great God and thrive.

KEY VERSE( s )

1 Peter 5:6-7

6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. 7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

Romans 5:8

God has demonstrated His own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 8:28

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. Have you ever been in a car accident? Were there any laws broken (or bent) leading up to the accident?

2. How does the concept of submission relate to traffic laws?

3. Do you perceive the concept of submission as a positive thing or a negative thing?

4. How about Humility? Do you perceive humility as a positive character trait? Do you tend to respect humble people?

5. 1 Peter 5:6-7 says the solution to anxiety is humility. How might this be true?

LOOKING THROUGH A BIBLE LENS

Core Belief: We are truly free in Christ.

Cultural Lie:

God is a tyrant. Religion is all about control and constraints.

Biblical Worldview:

God is good and has shown His goodness and power at the cross.

Prayer:

Jesus, in an attempt to carve out some security for ourselves in a world that constantly shifts around us, we succumb to arrogance and walk away from trusting in your goodness and grace. Help us to humble ourselves under your mighty hand trusting you to care for our greatest need and submitting to your will when things do not go as we might have hoped. In Jesus’ name, amen.

‘TIS THE SEASON

Series Summary

“’Tis the season” is a phrase we are all familiar with. It’s maybe even glittering across the wreath hanging on your door. But perhaps this phrase might be more beneficial to us if we turned it into a question, “Wha’ tis the season?” I know, cheesy, but maybe more helpful. Because it is supposed to be the season of love, and it could be, but is it, really? Is another gift card really the best way to say I love you? It’s supposed to be the season of peace and joy, and it could be, but is that how you would describe your inner life while fighting through the crowds at the mall two days before Christmas to buy a gift for the boyfriend you didn’t know was coming to your family Christmas gathering? How do we breathe life back into this iconic phrase so that its intended meaning comes through? Perhaps, ‘tis the season to do just that!

2024-25 TH E ME VERSE(S)

PSALM 1:1-3

1 Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers,

2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night.

3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers.

Contentment not Consumption

ARTICLE SUMMARY

‘Tis the season for Christmas movies…finally! Once a year, we all get to enjoy re-watching the Christmas movies we love. It’s the time of year when everyone seems okay celebrating old traditions and being together reminiscing about good times. We love Christmas, but maybe we don’t love it enough. The story of Christmas starts with a special girl named Mary who was highly favored to become the mother of Jesus. And through Him, peace was brought to the world, once and for all. As we search for peace this Christmas, are we settling for stories that only poorly reflect the real meaning of the season? Let’s not be so easily pleased. Why would we miss out on the gif t of peace God intends for our lives though Jesus, the Prince of Peace.

‘Tis the season for Christmas movies!

There is a pattern in Christmas movies where the main character is singled out for having special characteristics. These unique abilities launch them on a journey of self-discovery. Christmas movies, in particular, end with a cathartic, “Ahhh!” as the main character gets what he/she wants, and everything is at peace once again.

Scott Calvin becomes the Santa Clause by accident, but then becomes the Santa Clause through transformation.

Buddy is actually a human living with elves who merely tolerate him, but his quirkiness wins him the girl, his father, and acceptance back into the elf community.

Kevin is a strong-willed child picked on by his family, but his strength turns out to be the virtue that protects him, and his family all see it in the end…until the next year.

Clark Griswold is a conscientious employee with great ideas, and he “deserves a bonus,” and that’s just what he gets in the end.

The boy who doubts Santa, is also the one who finds the lost ticket and gets the first gift of Christmas. In the end, the conductor changes his name from “Doubter” to “Believer” and he can still hear the bell at Christmas…ding, ding, ding…

“Ahhh!”

These stories “feel” right because they’re based on truth. In the real story of Christmas, the messenger from God comes to Mary, and tells her she’s highly favored by God (Luke 1:28), and let’s her know the Messiah will be coming through her. And He, Jesus, will bring lasting peace.

At Christmas, we want to be reminded of the transcendent story of Jesus’ birth, we long to remember the transcendent truth of God’s love for us. But over time, we’ve dropped the part about the savior and replaced Him with Santa, and we’ve lost the fact that Mary was favored by God and made it about Clark Griswold’s merit and Scott Calvin’s broken family.

What have we done?!?

C. S. Lewis, in The Weight of Glory, isn’t specifically writing about Christmas but seems to really challenge our tendency to miss the meaning of the season, when he said, “It would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

In Isaiah 9:6-7 it was prophesied about Jesus, the Messiah, these powerful words, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.”

Peace is not something we can find inside ourselves or on Amazon, even if our Christmas classics try to imply it with Cousin Eddie, the savior of the Griswold family Christmas.

God is the bringer of peace. Christmas is the time to pause and focus on the story of Jesus, the Prince of Peace, coming to bring hope, renewal, and salvation to all who believe. Don’t settle for cheap knock-off stories and simply buying more stuff this year; don’t be so easily pleased. Instead, ‘tis the season to lift our eyes a little higher and remember the greatest story ever told, and the gift of salvation purchased by the God who humbled himself to become a baby in the manger.

KEY VERSE( s )

Luke 1:28

28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”

Isaiah 9:6-7

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. What’s your favorite Christmas movie?

2. How early is ‘too early’ to start watching Christmas movies or listening to Christmas music?

3. What is the main message in your favorite Christmas song or movie? Does it reinforce or reflect what you believe? Do you think that matters?

4. What are the traditions you incorporate in your annual Christmas celebrations that help remind you of the story of Jesus?

5. Why is the birth of Jesus such a significant event in human history?

LOOKING THROUGH A BIBLE LENS

Core Belief: God is highest.

Cultural Lie:

You can achieve inner peace.

Biblical Worldview:

Peace is a gift of God who is highest and comes through trusting in Him.

Prayer:

Jesus, the unfathomable fact of your humility, that you came to earth and clothed yourself in frail humanity, so that we could know you is overwhelming. Thank you for being Emmanuel, God with us. Thank you for trusting Mary and Jospeh to protect and raise you that we might know for sure that you want us to be involved in the world you seek to save. Thank you for calling people to you who could capture the details of your birth so that we may know them and celebrate them. You are so good to us. We love you, in Jesus’ name, amen.

Presence not Presents ARTICLE SUMMARY

“Mary got ready and hurried [to see Elizabeth]” (Luke 1:39). It would have been very tough for Mary to make this journey. She went from Nazareth to a small town in the hill country of Judea that was an eighty-to-one-hundred-mile walk. Perhaps the modern parallel to this kind of journey would be the trips we take to spend time with family at Christmas. Though these trips can be complicated and exhausting they are not like what Mar y endured. Her journey would have taken her between three to five days, on foot. But, when Mar y arrived, her presence was a gift beyond any other. John the Baptist leaped for joy in the womb simply because Mary had brought Jesus with her. Get into the presence of Jesus this Christmas and see if your heart leaps within you. And bring Him with you into all the rooms you go into. Make an effort to be present with the people you love, not in the same room with them opening gifts, but truly present. ‘Tis the season for love if, and only if we remember that presence trumps presents every time.

I’m sure you will travel for Christmas. If not, people are probably traveling to you. Travelling can be very stressful. Whether it’s the hassle of the airport, or the long, claustrophobic hours in a car, when you finally arrive, you’re exhausted. Then, being out of your routine, staying in hotels, or on your aunt’s couch, sharing a bathroom with cousins and eating junk all make for tough moments.

Why do we do it? I think part of the reason is we intuitively understand the importance of being with the people we love. Whether that’s with our family and friends on a vacation where we can relax and enjoy each other’s company, or a holiday trip to see family and friends. We know the value of people’s physical presence in our lives.

In Luke 1:39 there is a little detail in the Christmas story we may have missed. Mary travelled! The mother of Jesus was waiting to board with group 9 on Nazareth Air on Christmas. Okay, that’s not exactly what happened, but she did make a three-to-five-day journey on foot to cover about one hundred miles in order to see her relatives. And when she

arrived, I’m sure exhausted and dirty, the reason why she went was immediately apparent as Elizabeth said in verse 44, “As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.”

John the Baptist was still in the womb, Mary had only been pregnant for a very short time, and yet, the moment John was within Jesus’ presence, his love for Jesus and his purpose were made known.

When Jesus was actually born later that year, the shepherds came to see Him and the wisemen brought him presents. But it wasn’t the presents that made the journey worthwhile. Even in Jesus’ day the wisemen could have sent presents via courier, so why did they make the trip personally? They wanted to be with Jesus. The present was merely the symbol of worship and honor, a more profound and meaningful way of saying, “I’m so glad to be with you.”

Presents are an important part of our Christmas traditions. Getting the right gift for someone you love can go a long way

to communicate how much you value and care for them. But don’t miss the part of the story where we make the effort to be with people we love. I don’t just mean to be with them in the same room opening presents, but, instead, to actually show up and be present.

For those of us who know Jesus, lets’ also take the opportunity, like Mary did, to bring Jesus with us wherever we go. Who knows that when we walk in with Christ in our hearts that those we love might not leap for joy at the presence of Jesus in us.

‘Tis the season for love if and only if we remember that presence trumps presents every time.

KEY VERSE( s )

Luke 1:44

44 As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.

LOOKING THROUGH A BIBLE LENS

Core Belief: Jesus is our Lord.

Cultural Lie: Christmas is about presents.

Biblical Worldview: Christmas is about Jesus coming to earth that we might know His presence. Jesus is our Lord.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. What are your travel plans this Christmas?

2. What is your funniest, most memorable or most uncomfortable Christmas travel experience?

3. Who are you most excited to see over the holidays? What is special about the opportunity to spend time with this person? Is it more special during the Christmas season?

4. Is there anyone in your life that if you could, you would trade most or all of your presents in order to see them and spend meaningful time with them?

5. God wants to know us, and Christmas provides powerful proof of His determination to dwell among us. How do you experience Jesus’ presence in your life at Christmas?

Prayer:

Jesus, being with you is the greatest gift we could ever hope for. Help us turn our eyes toward you so that we might know you more and experience the joy of your love for us. And as we enjoy the gifts we receive this season, may that spill over into gratitude and appreciation for the wonderful people you’ve placed in our lives who gave us the gifts. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Worship in Wonder

ARTICLE SUMMARY

“The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.” The most natural response to a true encounter with Jesus is worship. When you truly understand who He is and what he has done, there is no other reasonable response. The reason we can’t and don’t do this all the time, even when we are faithful believers, is it’s too much good! Our physical bodies, our limited minds, our fickle emotions cannot withstand the glory, so God gives us glimpses. ‘Tis the season when we’re supposed to remember and glimpse God’s goodness toward us. He has sent His son into the world; may our hearts leap for joy!

Jesus is God.

He was the word in the beginning animating the emptiness with light.

He was there, in the garden, after Eve reached out and took the forbidden fruit, shared it with Adam, and the human race fell into sin.

He heard Abel’s blood cry out from the ground when Cain murdered him.

He was there when Noah built the ark. He was there when God put the rainbow in the sky to promise to never destroy the earth again.

He beheld Abraham as he raised His hand to kill Isaac and caused the ram to be trapped in the bush.

Jesus was there in the burning bush with Moses, and in the fiery furnace with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.

He called to Elijah while he was on the run from Jezabel and stood with Elisha when the bones came together in the valley.

Jesus watched the angel touch Isaiah’s lips with the coal, and He heard Amos’ struggle to accept his calling as a prophet. He wept with Jeremiah and stood with Joshua. He protected Ruth and lifted up Rahab. He strengthened David’s heart in the cave and gave him songs to sing, and then poured wisdom and knowledge through Solomon’s quill.

He was the architect of Ezekiel’s temple and the final words of Malachi’s prophecy.

Jesus was even there during the four hundred years of silence as the Pharisees, Sadducees, Zealots, Maccabees, and the people of God built up rules that pushed Him away.

Jesus was in all these places because He is God.

“And when the time was ripe, He humbled Himself and took the form of a helpless baby, that we might know Him, to God who knows our suffering.

“The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.” Because they recognized who Jesus, the baby, was.

Do you? If so, then your appropriate response, every day, and especially at Christmas, is worship.

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

KEY VERSE( s )

Luke 2:20

20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

John 1:14

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. What does it mean to be filled with wonder?

2. When was the last time you experienced any kind of wonder? What happened?

3. Christmas is a season where we are more open to wonder and the mysteries of God. Why do you think Christmas has this kind of effect on us?

4. The story of Jesus born of a virgin in a manger with wisemen and shepherds is well known, but does it still inspire a sense of wonder in you?

5. Jesus, the helpless infant, was the God who did all we read about in the Scriptures. How is this even possible? Why would He do this?

LOOKING THROUGH A BIBLE LENS

Core Belief: Jesus is our Lord.

Cultural Lie:

Christmas is about good feelings, gifts, and a break from school.

Biblical Worldview:

Christmas is about worshipping Jesus for the wonder of His birth.

Prayer:

Jesus, you are worthy of all honor, all praise, and all worship. You, who created the universe and will set it all right once again, chose to be a baby, and submitted yourself to the lowest form of helpless dependency. May we never forget the wonder of this miraculous event that changed the course of human history. In Jesus’ name, amen.

BIBLE STORIES ABOUT AXES

Series Summary

The Christmas trees we just paid $200 for are now lying dead on the curb for someone to collect and burn. The décor is down, the lights are turned off and put away. It’s back to the grind. The debt has racked up. It will be April, just in time to pay taxes, before we pay off Christmas. It’s a good time of year to start fresh, and thriving is not just about growth in the good ways—it’s about cutting back, too. So, in this series, we’ll look at three Bible stories about axes and see what they might have to teach us about thriving as we enjoy this beautiful Miami weather.

2024-25 TH E ME VERSE(S)

PSALM 1:1-3

1 Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers,

2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night.

3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers.

The Borrowed Axe

ARTICLE SUMMARY

I was raised to “return it better than I borrowed it,” so when I accidentally poured the wrong fuel in a borrowed jet ski, I was mortified. The engine was destroyed—definitely not better than when I borrowed it! I felt terrible and offered to pay for the repairs, but the guy turned down the offer. Needless to say, I didn’t borrow anything from that guy again. In 2 Kings 6:1-7, there’s a story of a prophet who has borrowed an axe. The axe head flies off and is lost, and the prophet is mortified. He doesn’t have the money to pay to replace it. He cannot return empty-handed. What is he going to do?

About 10 years ago, my family was invited to stay with some friends in a Lakehouse near Charlotte, NC. We were having a great time on the pontoon boats and jet skis.

One morning, I needed to stay back and get some work done while the family went out on the boat. A few hours later, just before I jumped on the jet ski to catch up with everyone, I had the thought, “I should add some gas.”So, I did, and took off after my family.

At the end of the day, my friend was driving the jet ski back and it started sputtering. Eventually, it wouldn’t drive anymore, and we had to tow it back. When I explained how I’d filled the tank with gas and pointed to the can I used, my friend’s face looked horrified as he said, “That’s the wrong fuel!” We told the owner and after taking it to the shop, he let us know it was ruined. I tried to pay for it, but the owner refused my offer leaving me with no way to make it right. I was mortified.

I remember my dad spending several hours religiously cleaning and repairing a lawnmower he’d borrowed. I asked him why he was doing it and he looked up and said, “John, you always leave things better than you found them.” My dad’s greasy hands and sweaty face, combined with the shocked appreciation of the man from whom we borrowed the lawnmower, made my dad’s words stick. So, ruining the jet ski left me nauseous.

In 2 King’s 6:1-7 there’s a story of a prophet who borrows an axe and then loses the axe head in the Jordan river. He was mortified. I know how he felt. Perhaps you do too.

Have you ever really messed up? You stepped on your friend’s phone and cracked the screen. Maybe you got in a car accident and totaled your parent’s car, or you borrowed your friend’s favorite sweatshirt and stained it. These situations are awful because of how helpless we feel under the weight of our failure.

That’s how the prophet felt staring at the ripples of water where the axe head plunked into the Jordan river. “What am I going to do? I can’t afford to replace it.” He said.

Then he turned to Elisha and begged for help. Elisha asks him, “Where did it fall?” He points and Elisha tosses some wood into the Jordan in that spot. Miraculously, the axe head floats back to the surface and is recovered by a deeply appreciative and relieved prophet.

This story seems strange until we see it in the light of our own mistakes. What do we do when we screw up? Lie about it? Try to make it right by paying for it? Dismissing it, and its consequences, the best we can? The world tries to tell us that there is no right and wrong, you can do whatever you think is right as long as you’re not hurting anyone. But we do hurt people, all the time, and usually because of things we say and do. And we know when we mess up too; we prove the

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

“wrongness” of our actions when we try to lie to cover it up, or in the sick pit in our stomachs when we come clean.

The story of the axe head deals with the real heart of our guilt in a way that previews God’s ultimate solution. The axe head is our mistake, Elisha is Jesus, the wood is the cross, and the Jordan is the cleansing grace of salvation. The story of the lost axe head is a preview of the Gospel. God has blessed us, we mess it up, Jesus dies to pay for our mistakes, and we are restored to God through His grace.

The world tries to erase our guilt with a slight of hand, “live and let live.” And it doesn’t work.

The religious try to erase our guilt by doing more good works, but the damage is done.

Jesus actually erases our guilt with the expensive grace purchased through the cross.

You can’t just pretend your guilt doesn’t exist, because eventually you’ll need to give the axe back, and you won’t be able to hide it anymore, but praise Jesus for going to the cross to make a way of grace, that if we believe in Him, we can be truly free.

KEY VERSE( s )

2 King’s 6:1-7

6 The company of the prophets said to Elisha, “Look, the place where we meet with you is too small for us. 2 Let us go to the Jordan, where each of us can get a pole; and let us build a place there for us to meet.” And he said, “Go.” 3 Then one of them said, “Won’t you please come with your servants?” “I will,” Elisha replied. 4 And he went with them. They went to the Jordan and began to cut down trees. 5 As one of them was cutting down a tree, the iron axe head fell into the water. “Oh no, my Lord!” he cried out. “It was borrowed!” 6 The man of God asked, “Where did it fall?” When he showed him the place, Elisha cut a stick and threw it there, and made the iron float. 7 “Lift it out,” he said. Then the man reached out his hand and took it.

1. What was the last thing you’ve borrowed from someone? Did you feel any pressure to return it to them better than it was when you borrowed it?

2. Have you ever borrowed something from someone and while it was in your possession it got broken or ruined in some way? What happened?

3. Do you think it’s appropriate to let people you know do things that are bad for them? What if what they’re doing is hurting others too?

4. We sometimes think that things we do in private, “don’t effect other people,” but how might this not be true?

5. What responsibility do we have to care for and ‘call out’ the people around us?

LOOKING THROUGH A BIBLE LENS

Core Belief: We are truly free in Christ.

Cultural Lie: Live and let live.

Biblical Worldview: Our sin causes real pain that we can’t escape, but Jesus’ work on the cross makes us truly free in Him.

Prayer:

Jesus, often in an attempt to avoid conflict, or protect ourselves from someone else’s anger we do not say what’s needed and leave people we love without the support they need to thrive. Give us courage and bolster our love for one another that we may encourage one another to grow. In Jesus’ name, amen.

The Boastful Axe

ARTICLE SUMMARY

An axe is a tool to split and chop wood. But an axe that is not wielded by someone will accomplish nothing. Isaiah, in this obscure little verse, is using the axe to emphasize God’s absolute control over the events of histor y. Like a lumberjack wielding an axe, God will use Assyria to cut down the Israelites for their disobedience to Him. This little verse serves as a warning to the Assyrians not to be boastful. The clear point in this verse and surrounding passage is that God is in charge, both of Israel’s discipline through Assyria and Israel’s restoration in spite of Assyria. But this brings up a challenging tension about the sovereignty of God. If God is directly responsible for the judgment of people who work against His purposes, does that mean He is responsible for the bad things that happen?

It’s about to be Super Bowl weekend again. Of course, I’m writing this in June, so I have no idea who is in the Super Bowl this year. But for the purpose of this article, let’s assume it’s the Dolphins and the 49ers. Why not?

Obviously, the Dolphins will win the Super Bowl and they’ll get rings. But did you know that for most teams, the owner, the general manager, the whole coaching staff, managers, even athletic trainers, get rings too? Everyone gets one.

Is that fair? None of the support staff could win the championship without players, so do they really deserve one? On the other hand, could the players win without the owner, the general manager, the coaches, or even the athletic training staff? It’s hard to say.

How would you feel if you met one of the assistant athletic training staff (ahem…waterboys), and they were flashing their ring around being very boastful about the part they played. I would never argue they shouldn’t get a ring, but, come on, they should be a little humbler about it, right? “Tua, yeah, you get one, clearly. Mostert and Hill, I mean, obviously. McDaniels, no doubt. Mr. Ross, you can have three if you want, sir. But the assistant athletic trainer, well, you can have one, I guess, but, bro, know your place.”

Arrogance is ugly. It seeks to take more credit than it deserves and is always envious of praise that goes to others. By contrast, real humility, especially when worn by a talented, valuable person is attractive.

In Isaiah 10:15, God is warning the nation of Assyria against arrogance. Comparing them to an axe, He lets them know that although He is going to use them to discipline the Israelites for their disobedience, they shouldn’t boast. He asks, “Should an axe brag against him who chops with it? Should a saw exalt itself above him who saws with it?” In other words, come on Assyria, bro, know your place.

God is sovereign, which means He’s in charge. So, God saw fit to allow the nation of Assyria to sweep in and takeover Israel. God had been patient with Israel for hundreds of years and had sent judges and prophets to warn them along the way, but eventually, they needed correction and God could no longer relent. But then Assyria got all like, “did you see my ring?”, and God had to cool them off a bit.

We are guilty of being like both sides. We are sometimes Israel, and our arrogance causes us not to heed God’s warnings, and discipline becomes necessary. I also think sometimes we’re Assyria, and despite our disobedience,

we have seasons of victory that leave us feeling a little puffed up. In both cases, we’re in need of a good humbling, and God’s righteousness can feel sometimes like a sharpened axe to cut away the damaging arrogance threatening to separate us from His will for us.

In other words, the Super Bowl ring is a gift and none of those who receive one can take full credit for receiving it. It’s a gift; one that could have easily gone to the 49ers…again!

KEY VERSE( s )

Isaiah 10:15

Should an axe brag against him who chops with it? Should a saw exalt itself above him who saws with it? As if a rod should lift those who lift it up, or as if a staff should lift up someone who is not wood.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. Who do you think is going to win the Super Bowl this year?

2. Do you think it’s right that everyone gets a Super Bowl ring? Coaches, the general manager, the owner, a thletic trainers, even sometimes the cheerleaders?

3. Talk about a time from this football season (or any other arena) where you’ve seen someone being very arrogant. What is your take on that kind of behavior?

4. Talk about a time when someone who was genuinely talented and deserving of commendation/reward took a very humble approach in an interview. What is your take on that kind of behavior?

5. How can we humble ourselves before God and still hype ourselves up to perform at our highest level based on the gifts He has given us?

LOOKING THROUGH A BIBLE LENS

Core Belief: God is highest.

Cultural Lie: There is no God; we’re here by accident.

Biblical Worldview: God is highest, and His providence governs all people and things for all history.

Prayer:

God, we know that you are highest. There is no one who can rise to threaten you in any category. Help us to know and accept our place in the grand story of your plan and find comfort in our limitations. Grace us with the ability to praise you with the gifts you’ve given us without falling prey to the temptation to take too much credit for ourselves. In Jesus’ name, amen.

The Dull Axe

ARTICLE SUMMARY

Ecclesiastes is a book of wisdom, written to show the utter meaninglessness of life apart from belief in God. This short verse is tucked in with a series of proverbial sayings and would be easily overlooked, but it is packed with power to show us the tremendous freedom given to us by a gracious God. Axes were, at one time, a new invention, making the task of chopping wood exponentially easier. Dull axes wielded by unskilled hands, however, were far less effective than sharpened axes wielded by skilled hands. The iPhone is a modern axe, but what is it in your hands? A whet stone that sharpens your mind and helps you make progress, or is it making you dull and stealing productive time from your life, leaving you struggling to catch up? Our lives are filled with tools invented by the genius of humanity to make our lives easier, but you must learn how to wield them with skill. Take inventory of your life and sharpen your tools.

Have you ever tried to cut using a dull knife? My mother-inlaw has spent most of her life preparing meals with a dull, three-inch paring knife. Whether she’s chopping meat, vegetables, or trying to cut a pie, she instinctively reaches for the same small knife. She’s generous and thoughtful and always has food on the table so there are no complaints from me on that front, but I’ve never understood why she uses that tiny little knife.

The truth contained in a little verse in Ecclesiastes 10:10 sheds some light on this little conundrum, “If the axe is blunt, and one doesn’t sharpen the edge, then he must use more strength; but skill brings success.” I’ll stand by and watch as my mother-in-law will labor over chopping up celery for a salad, having to make every single slice and taking forever to get it done. It’s a labor of love, but she’s skilled. She knows what’s she’s doing, and she doesn’t mind taking the extra time. A sharper knife more suited to the task would make the job significantly faster and easier, but with skill she’s able to produce the same results even if it does take her longer (shrug).

I, on the other hand, cannot use that knife. I prefer a 12-inch chef knife. And if it’s not sharp enough to slice through tomato skin without denting the fruit, then it’s not sharp enough for me.

Where my mother-in-law is content to do what’s necessary to get the job done even with a poorer tool, I am susceptible to infomercials tempting me to buy Ginsu knives that cut through soup cans. I want the newest sharpest knife and the sharpening kit that comes with it.

Technology, whether it’s the latest knife made from hammered, Jerusalem steel, or an iPhone 15, is designed with a purpose – it is not neutral! Behind every technological advancement is someone’s (or a group of someone’s) agenda, often to further empower us to succeed and helping us rely more independently on our own intuition and strength. But the goal of the Christian faith is that we might become lesser and He may become greater.

In Genesis 11, men made bricks (a technological advancement that significantly increased humanities capacity for construction – easier than quarrying rocks) and decided to build a tower. Genesis 11:4 tells us why they were doing it, “Then they said, ‘Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise, we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.’”

We are capable of tremendous creativity, construction, and advancement. Today, we’ve built countless towers to the heavens, and invented apps that translate languages. But when do we stop and question as Christians whether what these technologies are aiming at are actually helping us develop a deeper and more dependent relationship with God?

If the goal of our technology is more efficiently chopping our celery for a salad, then there’s not likely an issue. But is that really our aim?

Since the beginning of societies, we have attempted to work our way to salvation and the result has always been separation from God. We might be better off, with a duller axe and purer motives. You’ll need to decide for yourself.

KEY VERSE( s )

Ecclesiastes 10:10

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. What do you think about the Surgeon General making it mandatory that social media apps place warnings, and limit usage for children?

2. How many minutes a day do you tend to spend on a device?

3. Have you ever tried deleting an app you use often to keep you from using it? Or tried to “fast” from your phone for a day? What was this like for you?

4. In the story of the tower of Babel in Genesis 11, God caused people to speak different languages so they couldn’t understand each other, why do you think He did this?

5. What is the danger of us inventing our way into independence from God?

If the axe is blunt, and one doesn’t sharpen the edge, then he must use more strength; but skill brings success. LOOKING THROUGH A BIBLE LENS

Core Belief: Men and women are made in His image.

Cultural Lie: Technology is only a neutral tool.

Biblical Worldview: We as image bearers are mandated to use all “tools” to glorify God.

Prayer:

God, there is no short-cut to knowing you and walking with you. There is also no man-made solution to the ultimate struggle of our lives. Help us to develop the kind of self-discipline that will protect us from relying on things that are temporary. In Jesus’ name, amen.

DEALING WITH DROUGHTS

Series Summary

In our spiritual journeys, we have to walk through the desert. Christian teachers like R. C. Sproul, C. H. Spurgeon, and Martin Lloyd Jones describe these seasons as, “The Desire of the Soul in Spiritual Darkness,” “Spiritual Depression,” and “The Dark Night of the Soul.” Whatever you call these seasons, we have to face the fact that thriving sometimes requires us to deal with spiritual droughts. The Word of God is not silent on these situations.

2024-25 TH E ME VERSE(S)

PSALM 1:1-3

1 Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers,

2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night.

3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers.

1.22 DEALING WITH DROUGHTS

Check Your Streams

ARTICLE SUMMARY

It’s possible that without the persistent creative energy of a woman with some orange trees, Miami may not have ever become one of Americas most iconic cities. Untouched blossoms from Julia Tuttle’s orange grove served as motivation to get Henry Flagler’s trains moving south again and provide a local analogy that we can use to understand what Jesus may have been hinting at in Luke 6:43-45 about our spiritual lives. If my life is producing “bad fruit,” I need to consider the words of Jesus or look at Miami history and make a change. There is only one way to truly produce good fruit and that is to be rooted in Christ where His streams of water might nourish my soul.

Julia Tuttle’s orange blossoms, sent to Henry Flagler during a particularly harsh freeze in the winter of 1895, played a significant role in the oil-baron-turned-railroad-tycoon’s decision to bring his trains south. In reality, Flagler had always had his sights set on Key West, believing it would be a great city and shipping port. With the failing health of his wife, and the mounting frustrations and costs of building railroad tracks through the swampy everglades, however, he may have simply stayed in Palm Coast. But for Tuttle’s creative persistence, Flagler came south! Three years later, Miami was incorporated.Today, it is everything Julia thought it would become and more, as one of the premier cities of the U.S. and a gateway to Latin America. And Flagler too, spurred on by an irrational drive, made it to Key West cutting the path that would become what is now U.S. 1 on the first “railroad across the sea.”

But what about the orange blossoms? Why were the orange blossoms such a significant symbol to motivate a man as distracted as Flagler to exhaust his wealth, and perform the previously thought impossible task of spanning the ocean with concrete? Perhaps it’s this: orange blossoms don’t grow on frozen trees. The orange blossoms all around Flagler were dying due to cold temperatures. But Tuttle’s blossoms represented fertile land, healthy trees and became a source of hope.

Luke 6:43-45 says, “No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. Each tree is recognized by its own

fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.”

We can see the simple agricultural truth of this message in the story of Tuttle and Flagler and the birth of the 305. It’s obvious that for a tree to produce good fruit it needs to be a good tree. But this parable takes it beyond just the quality of the tree and its fruit-bearing potential and into a spiritual concept we should pay close attention to. If only good trees produce good fruit, is it also true that only good men produce good works? That’s what the parable is saying – clearly!

So then, how does a person who wants to produce good fruit become a good person? Move to Miami?!? Maybe…

The reason Tuttle’s orange trees were blossoming while all the other orange trees in Florida were dying is simple, Miami and the Keys were the only frost-free places in the U.S. at the time. In other words, if you want oranges, you have to go where oranges grow.

Psalm 1:3 teaches us to, “be like a tree planted by streams of water yielding its fruit in season and whose leaves never wither.” Check your streams. Are you planted in Christ? Or have you subjected yourself to the freezing conditions away from Him.

The passage from Luke talks about storing up goodness, like an orange tree may absorb nutrients from the ground, but where does that goodness come from? We become “a good tree” when we’re rooted in Christ, without His nourishing truth to guide our souls we become corrupt and unable to produce good fruit. Check your streams.

Are you filling your mind with scripture, worship, godly messages, and a heavenly perspective? Are your eyes taking in images that honor God? Are your hands doing work that matters for the Kingdom, and is it blessing others? Are your feet bringing you into places where Jesus’ name can be lifted high? If not, check your streams.

The life that is planted by dried-up river beds, rocky soil, and poisoned wells, will not produce fruit in season or keep green leaves. We are called as followers of Jesus Christ to be set apart; to be Holy. God intends our lives to inspire others to know and follow Him.

Be like a tree planted by streams of water and bear fruit!

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. Have you ever bitten into a rotten piece of fruit? What did you do?

2. Talk about the fruit trees in your yard, or that you regularly have access to? Are there some trees that seem to do better than others?

3. What does a tree need to be able to produce good fruit?

4. Using Luke 6:43-45 as a backdrop for discussion, what is “good fruit”? What does Jesus mean by a “good tree?” How does Psalm 1:3 help us understand what it means to produce good fruit?

5. When you take inventory of the “streams” in your life do you feel you are nourishing your soul with that which will help you honor God?

KEY VERSE( s )

Luke 6:43-45

43 No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. 44 Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. 45 A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.

Core Belief:

Men and women are made in His image.

Cultural Lie:

I can be a Christian and still watch, listen to, and look at whatever I want.

Biblical Worldview:

A regenerated heart will be drawn to things that God loves.

Prayer:

Jesus, your word is like a stream of water to a fruit-bearing tree. Knowing your heart through hearing your words fills us to overflowing. Thank you for your grace and provision. Let us honor you with the lives you blessed us with. In Jesus’ name, amen.

LOOKING THROUGH A BIBLE LENS

1.23 DEALING WITH DROUGHTS

It Takes Time

ARTICLE SUMMARY

Someone I know was trying to sell their house recently but there were cracks in the foundation, and no one wanted to buy it. Fixing the foundation of a house is frustrating because you’ll need to spend A LOT of money and time, and when it’s all finished, if the contractor does an excellent job, ever ything will look exactly the same. You don’t ever see foundations, but you will absolutely see their effects. In the final analogy of Jesus’ famous mountainside sermon in Luke 6:46-49, Jesus points to the foundation of a house. “If it’s built on sand,” He says, “it’s doomed! But if you build your house on the rock [me], it will stand against the hurricane of life’s circumstances.” Foundational work on a house is time consuming and costly but its importance cannot be overstated. How much more time consuming and costly, then, is foundation work for our soul. Jesus’ answer...it will cost you your entire life.

I will never forget the moment while we were remodeling our house in Charlotte, NC, and my wife walked in to where I had pulled up floorboards in the kitchen so that she could see the dirt under the house. With a look of horror and discouragement on her face she said, “I didn’t realize that vaulting the ceilings meant gutting the house.”

For anyone who has ever been through a remodeling project, you can relate. Having to change your routine, share space in ways you normally wouldn’t, work around mess, and deal with financial uncertainties are just a short list of issues you need to be prepared to navigate well.

In our case, we also needed to deal with the foundation, hence the torn-up floorboards. But you can’t build up (vaulted ceilings) without first digging deep. It was a long few months, but we finally moved in. The house was well worth the wait and the pain of the construction process. I guess you could say it all worked out in the end. Most especially because of the valuable life lessons our family gained in the process.

Jesus says this in Luke 6:46-49, “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? As for everyone who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice, I will show you what they are like. They are like a man building a

house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed, and its destruction was complete.”

Jesus is making it clear that not just hearing His words, but actually doing them is what corrects the foundation, and His analogy is perfect! Painting a ceiling that is only going to collapse because it is not properly supported is a complete waste of time and effort. Listening to the words of God without applying them will result in a collapse of your spiritual integrity. It might take a lot less time to cheat than to study and learn, but in the long run, it’s ultimately a waste.

When the inspector came to look over the framing of the new vaulted ceiling it failed, not once, but two different times. Adding nearly two months to the construction timeline I originally established. It was a long and frustrating experience, but by the time we finished the work, we had confidence it was done right. And when we sold the house to move to Miami three years later, I knew my work would stand.

It takes time to build a foundation that will sustain the weight of your life. Cutting corners and taking shortcuts seems enticing, but in the end, it will cost you so much more time than it saves. Don’t settle for putting another coat of paint on it to make it look good in the short term. Jesus is calling us to do the foundation work, it’s very costly and time consuming, but when it’s done right you are free to build.

KEY VERSE( s )

Luke 6:46-49

46 “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?

47 As for everyone who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice, I will show you what they are like. 48 They are like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. 49 But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed, and its destruction was complete.”

LOOKING THROUGH A BIBLE LENS

Core Belief: God is highest.

Cultural Lie:

Finding yourself will bring clarity and purpose to your life.

Biblical Worldview:

Finding God, who is highest, and losing yourself in Him will bring clarity and purpose to your life.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. Share a story where you and your family went through a remodeling project? What was it like?

2. When beautiful homes are being built there is a period where they need to dig deep into the ground before they build up. Why is this necessary?

3. Describe a few of the “foundational” requirements of your Christian faith.

4. What is the right amount of time to spend on the most important things in your life?

5. What is one thing you could change, that you actually would change in order to shore up the foundation of your faith?

Prayer:

Jesus, it is so easy and tempting to live our lives based solely on what people can see. But you want so much more for us. You don’t just want us to appear happy, healthy, and fulfilled, you intend that we would thrive, that we would have life to the fullest. Give us the courage to dig into the cracks of our faith and trust you to do the hard, costly work of repairing our footing that we might be used in a mighty way for your kingdom. In Jesus’ name, amen.

1.24 DEALING WITH DROUGHTS

Dig Deeper

ARTICLE SUMMARY

Fruit trees are supposed to have fruit on them. I’ve got two mango trees, an avocado tree, and a bunch of coconut trees in my yard. One of my mango trees did not bear fruit this year, but I’m not worried, because I pruned it back at the end of last season. I expect to get a “bumper crop” of mangoes next year af ter it has time to heal and regrow. Jesus tells a parable about a tree that isn’t producing fruit. The gardener asks for more time to care for the tree, hoping that with a little more root work, the tree will produce. He says, “Let me dig around it and give it some fertilizer and then give it one more year.” But, in the end, both the gardener and the master agree, if the tree doesn’t bear fruit, it’s gotta go. We are supposed to be like a tree that yields fruit in season. We are supposed to bear fruit. Have you submitted your life to Jesus, that He can give you a new heart and set you free from sin? Then there will be fruit in your life revealing the presence of the Holy Spirit. If you don’t have fruit, then this is the year to prune, dig deeper and fertilize your faith.

“6 Then Jesus told this parable: “A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it but did not find any. 7 So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’ 8 “‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. 9 If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.’”

I’ve got two mango trees, an avocado tree, and a bunch of coconut trees in my yard. One of my mango trees did not bear fruit this year, but I’m not worried, because I pruned it back at the end of last season. I expect to get a “bumper crop” of mangoes next year after it has time to heal and regrow. Fruit trees are supposed to have fruit on them. If I had a mango tree in my yard that never produced mangoes it would be clear something was wrong, and action would need to be taken.

Jesus tells this parable about a tree that isn’t producing fruit. The gardener asks for more time to care for the tree, hoping that with a little more root work, the tree will produce. He says, “Let me dig around it and give it some fertilizer and then give it one more year.” But, in the end, both the gardener and the master agree, if the tree doesn’t bear fruit, it’s gotta go. Jesus is stating that just like a fruit tree is

supposed to bear fruit, we are supposed to bear fruit too. But this means God intends that we live our lives according to the purpose that He defines for us.

The world teaches us that we can define ourselves, choose our own paths and define what it means to be successful, and that when we do, we will find love, joy, peace and all the other good things that life has to offer. Which is true? Well, don’t settle for the surface level answer, dig deeper and check the fruit.

If you can’t find peace but are crippled by anxiety, if you are short-tempered and dismissive of others, if joy is elusive, i.e. if you don’t have fruit, then perhaps Jesus is on to something. What would you lose if you took some time to prune some bad things from your life, and seek God through His word; what would you lose if you dug a little deeper and fertilized your faith?

Have you submitted your life to Jesus, so He can give you a new heart and set you free from sin? Then there will be fruit in your life revealing the presence of the Holy Spirit. That fruit is described in Galatians 5:22-23 and includes character traits like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-discipline. Are these present and growing in your life?

Just like the gardener who realizes that the tree needed some care and extra nourishment, perhaps we should take some time to nourish our soul with the life-giving truth of the word of God.

KEY VERSE( s )

Luke 13:6-10

6 Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it but did not find any. 7 So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’ 8 “‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. 9 If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.’” 10 On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, 11 and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. What’s your favorite kind of fresh fruit to pick straight from the tree?

2. Who gets to decide the kind of person you are going to be?

3. Which one of the fruit of the Spirit do you feel is thriving in your life? Is there one that you tend to struggle with more than others?

4. When you hear the parable of the tree being cut down and thrown into the fire, do you feel that’s right? Fair?

5. What do you think it looks like to fertilize your spiritual life? What are the things you could do today, this week, in the next few months to increase your connection with Jesus?

LOOKING THROUGH A BIBLE LENS

Core Belief: God is highest.

Cultural Lie: I can define myself.

Biblical Worldview: God’s purpose defines you.

Prayer: Jesus, we act as if we are independent and can live our lives however we want to, but you have set eternity in our hearts, and you have knit us together in the womb; you have given us a clear purpose, and this is what defines our lives. Give us strength to dig deep and uncover the sins that hold us back from you that we might lay them at your feet, find healing and begin to live out the purpose you have for us. In Jesus’ name, amen.

PUT DOWN ROOTS

Series Summary

Our spiritual formation starts as a personal pursuit. We must deal with our relationship with God and then let Him deal with our souls. But this is only the beginning. Arriving at a place of personal health will never happen if you journey alone. We need each other. We, like a tree planted by streams of water, need to learn to put down roots in the communities we find ourselves in, and learn to bend with the winds of conflict, and branch out to connect with others.

2024-25 TH E ME VERSE(S)

PSALM 1:1-3

1 Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers,

2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night.

3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers.

Bloom Where You’re Planted

ARTICLE SUMMARY

We do not have any say over where we are born, who our parents are, what our family legacy is, and much of the experiences that shape our early life. We are irreversibly impacted by all of these things which are mostly out of our control, but does that make us victims of circumstances? Saint Francis de Sales didn’t think so. He was a Catholic Bishop in Geneva at the peak of the Protestant Reformation. Transformation, revolution, and religious turmoil surrounded him and threatened to throw everything into confusion. And yet, through it all he did not lose sight of His call to minister love, kindness, generosity, and grace to any who would listen. He did not get to pick the circumstances of his generation, but He loved Jesus, and chose to ser ve Him the best he could in the season he was given. “Bloom where you’re planted,” was his message to all who came to him for encouragement. We are not victims if we are in Christ. Jesus has chosen this time and this season for us to thrive and if we trust in Him, we will.

We do not have any say over where we are born, who our parents are, what our family legacy is, and much of the experiences that shape our early life. We are irreversibly impacted by all of these things which are mostly out of our control, but does that make us victims of circumstances?

I think some of us find comfort in blaming others for the situation we find ourselves in, while others of us compare our situation to someone else’s, and feel envious or jealous. I have certainly been guilty of both – using my parents’ divorce as a justification for my cynical outlook on life and believing my life would have been better had my family been more like (fill in the blank). This is a victim mindset.

Being a victim puts you under the control and authority of someone or something that is lesser than God, who is highest. In order to step into the full calling God has placed on us and follow Him, we must put Him in His rightful place, as the superintendent of our life experience.

Consider Paul’s words in Romans 12:5-8, “5 so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. 6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then

prophesy in accordance with your faith; 7 if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; 8 if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.” We fit into the place God has prepared for us, and we are designed to do the work He means for us to do.

Saint Francis de Sales saw that clearly. He was a Catholic Bishop in Geneva at the peak of the Protestant Reformation. Transformation, revolution, and religious turmoil surrounded him and threatened to throw everything into confusion. And yet, through it all he did not lose sight of His call to minister love, kindness, generosity, and grace to any who would listen.

He lived out the truth of Ephesians 2:10, “10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

How about you? Do you see the circumstances of your life like a weight dragging you down, or a diving belt holding you exactly where you’re supposed to be to do what you came for. You have to step back and choose, do you believe God is bigger than the things that have happened to you, or not?

Saint Francis de Sales did not get to pick the circumstances of his generation, but He loved Jesus and chose to serve Him the best he could in the season he was given. “Bloom where you’re planted,” was his encouragement to all who came to him for encouragement. We are not victims if we are in Christ. Jesus has chosen this time and these circumstances for us to thrive and if we trust in Him, we will.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. What is the difference between a victim and a survivor?

2. What is a victim mindset? When have you used blame as a way to get out of doing what needs to be done?

3. Taking ownership of the things you can do something about can be scary and difficult but will ALWAYS produce better outcomes than blaming. What area of your life do you need to take back and deal with?

KEY VERSE( s )

Romans 12:5-8

5 so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. 6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; 7 if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; 8 if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.

Ephesians 2:10

10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

LOOKING THROUGH A BIBLE LENS

Core Belief:

Jesus is our Lord.

Cultural Lie: I can do anything I want to do.

Biblical Worldview: God has gifted you specifically and uniquely for His glory.

4. Jesus said, “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.” What does this scene from Luke 23:34 teach us about taking ownership for our lives.

5. How could God use the difficult situation you are trying to avoid for His purposes if you would surrender it to Him and allow Him to use it for His glory?

Prayer:

Jesus, we cannot see from your heavenly perspective. You are God, and we are not. Where we see suffering, loss, sorrow, brokenness, and corruption, you work all things together to bring about the good you intend. Give us eyes to see the work you are doing in and through us. Give us the humility to accept that our life is not ultimately about us, so that through that truth we might find freedom to truly serve you in joy. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Bending with the Wind ARTICLE

SUMMARY

The next time one of those crazy South Florida storms whips up and tears through the city, take shelter in a place where you can watch some palm trees. It’s amazing to me how they can withstand such incredible winds. I’ve seen the palm trees in my yard bending over like a fishing rod on a fish, without sustaining any damage. When the gust blows out, they pop back as if nothing had ever happened.

Palm trees are designed to withstand the wind. In Psalm 92:12, it says, “the righteous will flourish like a palm tree.” When you think of righteous people, do you think of the word flexible? I don’t! I tend to think of rigid, inflexibility. Apparently, I need to upgrade my ideas about being righteous. Perhaps righteousness has more to do with healthy, robust roots systems with access to nourishing water. Perhaps, it has more to do with healthy growth and strength to withstand the wind.

Do you bend with the wind? Can you weather the storms in your life? Or does every little gust of wind threaten to uproot you. Living righteously, and being rooted in Christ, will help you thrive.

I’ve always loved storms. I remember the summer storms that would roll through my hometown in Newfield, NY. I would lay on my bed with the window open and watch the rain, lightning and thunder. There is something humbling (in a good way) about the power that weather possesses when you’re paying attention. Of course, this is only true when you’re lying comfortably on your bed watching the storm, rather than being trapped by it or in it. There were plenty of times I was caught exposed in the elements while playing outside and had to run for cover.

Since moving to South Florida, I’ve discovered something else I love watching when storms blow through – palm trees.

The next time one of those crazy South Florida storms whips up and tears through the city, take shelter in a place where you can watch some palm trees. It’s amazing to me how they can withstand such incredible winds. I’ve seen the palm trees in my yard bending over like a fishing rod on a fish, without sustaining any damage. When the gust blows out, they pop back as if nothing had ever happened.

Palm trees are designed to withstand the wind. In Psalm 92:12 it says, “the righteous will flourish like a palm tree.” When you think of righteous people, do you think of the word flexible? I don’t! I tend to think of rigid, inflexibility.

Apparently, I need to upgrade my ideas about being righteous. Perhaps righteousness has more to do with healthy, robust roots systems with access to nourishing water. Perhaps, it has more to do with healthy growth and strength to withstand the wind.

Winds whip up in our life all the time. You’re cruising along on a normal day and suddenly you’re caught up in a windstorm of gossip from someone spreading lies about you. You put off your responsibilities for just a little too long, and now, as promised, you sewed the wind and you’re reaping the whirlwind. How do you handle the wind when it starts blowing in your life?

Do you bend with the wind? Can you weather the storms in your life? Or does every little gust of wind threaten to uproot you?

For thousands of years of human history no one really wondered why bad things happen, it was simply a given. Consider Job’s acceptance of suffering as a part of life. It is only us modern people who feel that we are being cheated out of some “better story” by the winds that start blowing in our lives. Why is that? Could it be because in an attempt to unmoor ourselves from the “restrictions of religion,” the architects of modernism unwittingly left us vulnerable to the inevitable winds of reality? Pretending like the winds don’t exist will not keep your hat from flying off when you’re out on a boat. Paul was direct about our temptation to deception in Ephesians 4:14, “14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming.” Let’s not be so easily duped!

To thrive in life, we need to put down roots in soil that will nourish our lives and provide stability in the shifting winds of life’s circumstances. If we do, maybe we’ll see that the winds serve a purpose. In the case of the palm trees, how else would the dead palm fronds come down?

If you want to thrive, live righteously, and put down roots in Christ and then throw open the window and watch the storms blow through. Your future is secure when you put down roots in Jesus.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. Talk about a time you were trapped outside in a storm?

2. Tell a story about a time you’ve lost something because it was blown away in the wind.

3. What are some ways your life might need to change in order to start living more righteously? What would be the benefits of making some of those changes?

4. What are areas in your life where no matter what you do you will need to bend to things that are out of your control?

5. Jesus found Himself in many situations where people and circumstances were unpredictable, and he had to flex. Why was Jesus able to take everything in stride without missing a beat?

KEY VERSE( s )

Psalm 92:12-13

12 The righteous will flourish like a palm tree; they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon. 13 planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God.

Ephesians 4:14

14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming.

LOOKING THROUGH A BIBLE LENS

Core Belief: We are truly free in Christ.

Cultural Lie: Freedom means no restrictions. No one can tell me what to do.

Biblical Worldview: True freedom is submission to Jesus Christ.

Prayer:

Jesus, thank you for living among us that we might see what a life rooted in the Father looks like. We can be so easily swayed by others and tempted to separate ourselves from you to our own destruction. Please give us wisdom to see through the lies and stay rooted in your truth that we may stand firm to the end and be saved. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Branching Out

ARTICLE SUMMARY

Colossians 3:3-13 feels very much like a list of ‘thou shalt nots’ intended to leave us feeling condemned and hopeless. But that’s not what’s going on here. Paul is writing to a church, a group of people who are following the way of Jesus, and what he’s really telling them is this: “You need each other! You cannot do this on your own.” The list of things he instructs us not to do are all things that corrupt and corrode relationships.

Sexual immorality turns the other person into an object for my selfish desires. Greed selfishly takes more than I need and deprives others. Anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language all shape the people around us according to our undisciplined and selfish desires - we stomp around insisting ever yone else bends to our way of seeing the world and create scenarios where community becomes strained.

But these behaviors only serve to put us at risk of losing what we really need most, each other. So, Paul goes on to say, “clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another just like the Lord forgave you.”

This kind of life will lead to beautiful life-giving relationships with people. This is the Church, the people of God extending the love of God to the world, because we need each other!

Selfishness is, for many of us, a default setting. Scientists that would reduce our divine nature to animal characteristics may try to justify this kind of behavior as survival instinct or something. But I’m not so sure. After all, humans are pretty helpless apart from community. No, I don’t think we can excuse ourselves of our selfish tendencies, we need to come clean and call it what it is; it’s sin, and it’s also just dumb. If we act in such a way as to drive away the people we need to truly thrive, we are hurting, NOT helping ourselves.

Consider Colossians 3:3-13. In an initial read it feels very much like a list of ‘thou shalt nots’ intended to leave us feeling condemned, ashamed, guilty, and hopeless. But that’s not what’s going on here. Paul understands the damaging nature of selfishness, not just to the person acting selfish but to the whole community they’re connected to. Paul is writing to a church, a group of people who are following the way of Jesus, and what he’s really telling them is this, “You need each other! You cannot do this on your own.”

Let’s take a closer look at the list of things he instructs us not to do: “Sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, greed, anger, rage, malice, slander, filthy language and lying.”

All of these things corrupt and corrode relationships and social bonds.

Sexual immorality dehumanizes the other person, turning them into an object for selfish ends.

Greed selfishly takes more than is justified and deprives others of what they need.

Anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language all shape the people around us according to our undisciplined and selfish desires - we stomp around insisting everyone else bend to our way and put a lot of strain on social bonds.

All of these behaviors only serve to put us at risk of losing what we really need most, each other. To thrive in life, we have to get good at branching out. We need each other. We need love, support, affirmation, and correction. We need

someone to watch our back when we’re focused in one direction. We need the gifts and skills of a broader community if we intend to build and expand as people.

Paul goes on to say, “clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another just like the Lord forgave you.”

This kind of life will lead to beautiful life-giving relationships with people. Isn’t that what we really want and need? Maybe it’s harder today to forsake the thing we really want now, but tomorrow, with our friends and family around us, won’t we be grateful we didn’t drive them away in our selfishness?

This is the Church, the people of God extending the love of God to the world, because we need each other!

KEY VERSE( s )

Colossians 3:3-13

3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is your[a] life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. 5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. 7 You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. 8 But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. 9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. 11 Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all. 12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13 Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. Who is/are the most important person/ people in your life?

2. What would your life be like if this/ these person/people were suddenly taken from you?

3. What are the things you do regularly to invest in and enrich these important relationships? What are the behaviors you are guilty of replicating in your life that are harming these important relationships?

4. Self-sacrifice rather than selfishness is the characteristic we need to emulate in our lives. What is something you can do today to be more self-sacrificial?

5. From what you know of His life, how did Jesus live a life of self-sacrifice and demonstrate the way we ought to live?

LOOKING THROUGH A BIBLE LENS

Core Belief: His Word is truth.

Cultural Lie: It’s about me.

Biblical Worldview: It’s not about you. It’s God first, and neighbor second.

Prayer:

Jesus, we are selfish because we don’t trust you. We think we need to protect and provide for ourselves because we are afraid you may overlook us like many others have. But you are not like others. You will never leave us or forsake us and even your discipline can be trusted. Thank you for being all we need that we might become for others what they need. In Jesus’ name, amen.

SUPERNATURAL

2024-25

TH E ME VERSE(S)

Series Summary

For about 200 years, we have been firmly entrenched in the modern age—an era fully dislocated from the rest of human history for its belief that all things can be explained by the physical world. Religion, they say, is superstition; the spiritual realm, fiction; and love is just chemical reactions. And yet, there is a yearning in the human heart for meaning that cannot be explained or explained away. For people to truly thrive, we must find meaning beyond the natural; we must peer into the realm of the supernatural.

PSALM 1:1-3

1 Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers,

2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night.

3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers.

More than Bread

ARTICLE SUMMARY

There seems to be a nutrition fad right now labeling different foods as, “superfoods.” I tend to agree with Jim Gaffigan that this was all started with the kale people. Gaffigan describes kale as hair y, bitter spinach, and he’s not that far off. Yet kale in the past twenty years has moved from salad bar garnish to star of Olive Garden’s Tuscan Soup.

Kale is just one of many superfoods that boasts of extraordinary health benefits. Maybe this is true in the physical sense, but I’m pretty certain, nothing we put in our stomachs will save our souls.

Jesus says in John 6:35, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungr y.” Jesus, the Wonder bread of heaven. Bread that will cure my hunger? Bread that will sate my appetites entirely? Bread that will feed my soul? Can this be true?

In our physical lives, we can eat all the kale we want, I’m sure it helps. In our spiritual lives, however, there is only one food we really need, Jesus, the bread of life! Our lives are temporar y, and our bodies are dying, but through Jesus our eternal soul can live and thrive.

There seems to be a nutrition fad right now labeling different foods as, “superfoods.” I choose to side with Jim Gaffigan that this all started with the kale people. Gaffigan describes kale as hairy, bitter spinach, and he’s not that far off. Yet kale in the past twenty years has moved from salad bar garnish to star of Olive Garden’s Tuscan Soup.

Kale is just one of many superfoods, though. You see clickbait ads on YouTube (or whatever) that boast of superfoods that will ‘burn away all your fat in 30 minutes’ or ‘leave you looking twenty years younger overnight...’. Maybe some of these claims are true; I wouldn’t know. But I’m pretty certain that nothing we put in our stomachs will save our souls.

We are physical beings living in a physical world with natural desires, but that’s not all we are. We are also spiritual beings with souls and eternal needs that can only be satisfied in supernatural ways. Jesus said something in John 6:35 that must have sounded so bizarre to the people who heard it, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never

go hungry.” Jesus did provide for the physical needs of the people he interacted with and so should we. Caring for those who do not have bread, giving generously and serving selflessly, are essential aspects of a genuine Christian life, but giving someone bread to eat without introducing them to the bread of life can only go so far.

Did people roll their eyes at this “Wonder bread of heaven” sales pitch? Certainly, they came out in droves when he was passing out wine in Cana and multiplying fish and loaves in Gennesaret. But where was everyone when His power over death rolled the stone away? The problem seems to be that we don’t want “bread of life” that will save our souls, we’re content, just like the crowds who followed Jesus, to get real bread to fill our stomachs – we’re too easily pleased.

At the last supper with His disciples, Jesus brought up the bread again and instructed His followers to eat it in remembrance of his death on the cross. This was a practice given to His Church reminding us of our dependence on

His sacrifice for our salvation. Jesus lived a sinless life, and then stood in our place to take the punishment we deserved. When He rose from the grave, He became the perfect provision to satisfy our famished souls. Oh, the wonder of this bread of life!

In our physical lives, we can eat all the kale we want, I’m sure it helps. In our spiritual lives, however, there is only one food we really need, Jesus, the bread of life! Our lives are temporary, and our bodies are dying, but through Jesus our eternal soul can live and thrive. We need to refocus our lives to look higher than the natural, we need to be people who see with supernatural eyes that we might experience eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. What is the dumbest “click-bait” advertising scheme you’ve seen recently?

2. Talk about a time you were taken in by an ad, only to discover later that it was false advertising?

3. Have you ever taken communion at church? What is the significance of the experience as you’ve experienced it?

4. Do you believe it’s possible that Jesus can fulfill all our desires and meet all our needs? Talk about a time that He has provided for you.

5. What role does the supernatural realm play in your day-to-day? Are you aware of the way in which the spiritual affects the physical in your life?

KEY VERSE( s )

John 6:35

35 Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

LOOKING THROUGH A BIBLE LENS

Core Belief:

Jesus is our Lord.

Cultural Lie:

The material world is all there is, and we’re just physical beings.

Biblical Worldview:

The spiritual realm is real, and we are primarily spiritual beings with souls.

Prayer:

Jesus, thank you for the way you have left us with helpful, practical symbols of your value to us. Every one of us knows what it is to be hungry and experience the satisfaction of food. Through that experience and your teaching, we can envision what it must be like to find satisfaction in you. Guide us to turn to you for our fulfillment and satisfaction that we may flee from sin and be united with you in your Spirit. In Jesus’ name, amen.

More than

Wine

ARTICLE SUMMARY

Jesus says in John 15:1, “I am the true vine…”. Vines, the ones he’s referring to, produce grapes. Grapes, when pressed, fermented and stored for an appropriate amount of time in the right conditions produce wine. Wine, for those living in the United States who are over the age of 21, is part of the meal. It’s also part of traditions and ceremonies. It represents investment, love, and time. It indicates that this meal is not just for sustenance, it’s for enjoyment. All of these things are wonderful. Wine in excess produces loose lips, poor judgement, accidents, and poverty. Wine is just a natural thing with the kind of limits and restrictions that all natural things have. Jesus, on the other hand, says, “I am the true vine...”. He’s no longer talking about something natural; he’s talking about the “super” natural. In the last supper, He offers the fruit of the vine and says, “this is the blood of my covenant.” Jesus’ blood on the cross is cause for celebration, it goes with the bread of life as part of the meal. It symbolizes ceremony and celebration and represents His love for us. When we drink natural wine it has temporar y benefits, when we drink of Jesus’ blood in covenant with Him, the true vine, we experience eternal life.

Alcohol abuse is an issue. Alcohol impairs judgement and produces results a sober person would never have allowed. This is a case where the natural thing (alcohol) is being used in a way it was never intended to produce results it does not have the power to deliver.

If you tried to hang from a small branch of a tree, for example, you would hardly be surprised when it snapped, and you ended up with an injury. But isn’t this exactly what we’re doing when we expect spiritual results (joy, fulfillment, peace, satisfaction, love etc…) from natural things?

We are physical beings living in a physical world with natural desires, but that’s not all we are. We are also spiritual beings with souls and eternal needs that can only be satisfied in supernatural ways. Jesus says in John 15:1, “I am the true vine…”. Vines, the ones he’s referring to produce grapes. Grapes, when pressed, fermented and stored for an appropriate amount of time in the right conditions produce wine. Wine, for those living in the United States who are

over the age of 21, is part of the meal. It’s also part of traditions, and ceremonies. It represents investment, love, and time. It indicates that this meal is not just for sustenance, it’s for enjoyment.

All of these things are wonderful. But it is not the wine itself that produces these things, the wine merely represents or facilitates these things. So, when wine is consumed in excess it does not result in what we hoped. Instead, it produces loose lips, poor judgement, accidents, and poverty. Wine is just a natural thing with the kind of limits and restrictions that all natural things have.

Jesus, on the other hand, says, “I am the true vine...”. He’s no longer talking about something natural; he’s talking about the “super” natural. You might be wondering, how is love, or peace supernatural? In Galatians 5, they are among the blessings given to us in the fruit of the Spirit. They are spiritual, not natural.

So, in the last supper Jesus offers the fruit of the vine and says, “this is the blood of my covenant.” He’s not talking about wine anymore. He’s using the wine to illustrate and represent something that the wine could never produce. No, Jesus is talking about His blood which is about to be spilled on the cross; this is cause for celebration.

When we drink natural wine, it has temporary benefits that will never last. And because it’s a natural thing it is limited in its ability to meet our expectations. But, when we drink of Jesus’ blood in covenant with Him, the True Vine, we will never be disappointed. We need to refocus our lives to look higher than the natural, we need to be people who see with supernatural eyes that we might experience eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. What does the idiom, “you can’t get blood from a turnip” mean?

2. Are we ever guilty of trying to “get blood from a turnip” when we expect too much from people and things in our lives? Can you share an example of a time you’ve seen this happen?

3. Underage drinking is a sin issue that needs to be addressed with spiritual solutions. What spiritual need are people attempting to meet when they overuse alcohol?

4. When Jesus described Himself as the True Vine, how was He positioning Himself to be the solution to that spiritual need?

KEY VERSE( s )

John 15:1-6

15 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. 5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.”

LOOKING THROUGH A BIBLE LENS

Core Belief:

Jesus is our Lord

Cultural Lie:

What I do doesn’t matter to anyone else; it’s my life and I can live how I want.

5. Jesus wants what’s best for us and has made the ultimate sacrifice to ensure that we can have it. Why are we so easily distracted by and drawn to natural things that do not have the power to provide what we need?

Biblical Worldview:

My life is not my own, I was bought with the price of Jesus’ blood, and He is my Lord.

Prayer:

Jesus, you used the analogy of wine to describe your sacrifice on the cross. The significance of this is not lost on us. From the crushing of the grapes to the preserving process, to the ceremonial and celebratory aspects, wine helps us understand to a greater depth who you are and what you’ve accomplished for us. Thank you for using natural things we do understand to reveal your supernatural purposes that we might know you more and turn to you to be saved, healed, and restored. In Jesus’ name, amen.

More than Man

ARTICLE SUMMARY

Jesus is not just a man; He is God too. Jesus describes Himself as, and was criticized for being a friend of sinners, but it is important to remember that He’s a different kind of friend than your school buddies. When you’re hanging out with your school friends there’s usually a little competition involved. You’re always wondering if you’re wearing the right clothes, using the right words in the right way. You’re worried if you’re going to be invited to the next thing, or start in the next game, because you’re always looking for signs that your friends are still your friends. Jesus is not a friend like that, when you’ve accepted Him as your Savior, you get Him as your friend, and this is good news because He’s more than a man, He’s God. His love is perfect, meaning he won’t just go along with your nonsense, but He also gave His life to make sure you can get free from it. Natural friendships will always have flaws, because people are broken by sin, but Jesus was more than a natural man so you can expect His friendship with you to be “super” natural too.

When you’re hanging out with your school friends there’s usually a little competition involved. You’re always wondering if you’re wearing the right clothes, using the right words in the right way. You’re worried if you’re going to be invited to the next thing or start in the next game. Why is this? What is the insecurity that always seems to be lurking behind the scenes of our relationships, even our closest and/or most intimate ones? There is a nagging fear baked in all of our human interactions that we will not measure up, or for some of us, that others will fall short and let us down. This is evidence of the limitation of our fallen nature – it’s not how it was supposed to be.

In John Milton’s “Paradise Lost,” he describes the relationship between Adam and Eve before they reach out and take the forbidden fruit. The dynamic of their relationship is uncomfortably idyllic and is actually awkward to read. It’s worse than the sappy love relationships in an old cheesy soap opera (telenovela) or Lifetime movie. But his point is well made when, after they sin against God and things fall to ruin, their broken, sin-filled relationship feels much more familiar.

The insecurity we feel in relationships has to do with the fact of sin in our natural state. That’s why you’re always looking for signs that your friends are still your friends. That is why you’re always wondering if you still fit in and have to check back regularly and perform to make sure you’re accepted. That’s why when your friend group starts down a path you

don’t want to follow them on, it’s so difficult to stay true to your convictions and let them go. Sin has lowered our standard of what makes up an acceptable friend, and we have dropped our standards for being a good friend too.

We are physical beings living in a physical world with natural desires, but that’s not all we are. We are also spiritual beings with souls and eternal needs that can only be satisfied in supernatural ways. Jesus is a different kind of friend. Philippians 2:6-7 says, “[Jesus] Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.” Jesus is not a friend like all our other friends because He’s more than just a man, Jesus is God. Jesus did not participate in the fall of humanity but has been working from eternity to set it right. When he came to earth and walked among us, His compassion was not tainted with failure, but was fueled by mercy. His intentions did not need to be questioned because He is not a man that He should lie. His promises always came to pass because He’s more than a man, He’s God.

When you’ve accepted Him as your Savior, you also get Him as your friend. This is good news because unlike all of your other friends, He is a friend that sticks closer than a brother, and he will never leave you or forsake you. He’s more than a man, He’s God.

When you walk with Jesus, you can stand firm in your convictions, even if everyone else walks away, because His love is perfect. And when you walk with Jesus, you can trust his correction because he won’t just go along with your nonsense, He actually gave His life to make sure you can get free from it.

Natural friendships will always have flaws, because people are broken by sin, but Jesus was more than a natural man so you can expect His friendship with you to be “super” natural too. We need to refocus our lives to look higher than the natural, we need to be people who see with supernatural eyes that we might experience eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. Who is your best friend in the world? What are some ways that they have your back and you know you can count on them?

2. Describe a time that your closest friend, or someone who used to be your closest friend let you down and caused you pain? Describe a time you did that to them?

3. What is the thing that keeps you from following through on your commitments to people we care about?

KEY VERSE( s )

Philippians 2:6-7

6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;

7 rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.

LOOKING THROUGH A BIBLE LENS

Core Belief: God is highest.

Cultural Lie:

All religions are basically the same and faith is personal.

Biblical Worldview:

Jesus is the truth, and faith in Him must be public.

4. In Ephesians 2:6-7 the Bible describes the fact of Jesus being both fully God and fully man. Take a minute to talk about how crazy this would have been to meet a man who was perfectly and divinely supernatural.

5. Discuss how crazy it would be if Elon Musk, Tom Brady, Taylor Swift, Serena Williams, or whoever, texted you every night wanting to know about all the details of your life. God, who walked the earth in human likeness, calls us friend.

Prayer:

Jesus, we cannot fathom the depth of your love for us that you would humble yourself to the degree of putting on flesh and walking with us on earth. To then call us friend and love us unconditionally, despite the many times that we let you down, is hard to comprehend. Thank you, Jesus, for your friendship. Amen.

The Lamb of God

ARTICLE SUMMARY

Jesus was put on trial, beaten, and murdered on the day of preparation. It is said in the Gospels. This is made clear in all four Gospels Matthew 27:62, Mark 15:42, Luke 23:54, “So, what’s the big deal?” you might be wondering. In Exodus 12:1-13 we get the description of the Passover, the last plague on the nation of Egypt before Pharoah finally lets the people of God go. God is going to send His angel of death and the first born in every house will die (the cost of sin), and in EVERY house, this price will be paid. In the Egyptian houses it will be paid with the blood of the first-born son, and in all the Hebrew houses, it will be paid with the blood of the Passover lamb. That holy practice was established for several thousand years before Jesus shows up at His trial on that day! John the Baptist understood the significance of this event and in John 1:36 he declares, “Behold, the lamb of God.” It is not a coincidence that Jesus was tried by Pilot on the day of preparation. In Egypt, the best solution available was a natural solution, so it had to be ritualized and done every year, but Jesus is not a natural lamb, he is the “super” natural lamb, the Christ. Trust in the “super” natural power of Jesus, the lamb of God, this Easter. He has set us free from sin and death and prepared the way for us to have a right relationship with God in heaven.

Easter is not just about a break from school, a set of random traditions, or chocolate bunnies and dressing up for grandma.

Easter is the single most important event in human history, and the most profound revelation of God’s love and intentions for humanity ever revealed, because it is the central event when the “super” natural took on a fully natural form to rescue us from our sin. Easter celebrates the death and resurrection of Jesus, the Passover lamb of God.

One way you might take some time to appreciate the depth of God’s wisdom this Easter is by studying this angle on the Easter story: Jesus was crucified on the Day of Preparation for the Passover as indicated in all four gospels (Matthew 27:62; Mark 15:42; Luke 23:54; John 19:14).

The original Passover event was thousands of years earlier when Moses was going toe-to-toe with Pharoah to get him to release the Israelites from their slavery in Egypt. The final round-house kick to Pharoah’s head was when God revealed He was going to kill every first-born in every house in Egypt. You can read all about it in Exodus 11 and 12.

Basically, the angel of death was going to pass through Egypt and exact a price for sin - every house had to pay, and the

price was blood. God instructed the Israelites to find “spotless” lambs, slaughter them and smear their blood on the doorframe of their houses. These doors were “passed over” by the angel of death. But every house that did not have blood smeared on it would lose their first-born child. In other words, every Hebrew house paid for their sins with the blood of a lamb, and every Egyptian house paid for their sins with the blood of their first-born son.

This event was remembered every year for thousands of years in the celebration of Passover. Then, Jesus, the Lamb of God, was arrested, tried and killed on the day of preparation for the Passover feast. This is not a coincidence.

Jesus, died on the very day that the nation of Israel was in Jerusalem ceremonially smearing blood on the doorposts of their houses. Thousands of lambs would have been slaughtered that very same day; imagine! But all those lambs were just lambs. Jesus was more than that, He was the “super” natural Passover lamb of God. His death would not need to be repeated again and again but was once and for all. The consequences of sin were erased when Jesus, the Lamb and the Son of God died on the cross. Three days later He rose from the grave victorious over sin and death.

We need to look higher than nature. To experience eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord we need to see with supernatural eyes. Believe in the finished work of the “super” natural Lamb of God this Easter.

KEY VERSE( s )

John 1:36

36 When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!”

John 1:36

36 When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!”

Matthew 27:62; Mark 15:42; Luke 23:54; John 19:14 “Preparation Day”

Exodus 12:1-13

“1 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, 2 “This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year. 3 Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household...”

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. Talk about a time recently where you’ve been on the outside of an inside joke.

2. Take a minute to describe why we celebrate Easter.

3. Talk about some of the ways we may miss the real meaning of Easter in how we think about it or celebrate it now.

4. What are the details of the Passover event as it was described in Genesis 11 & 12?

5. Think about and discuss the significance of the fact that this was the exact day on the Jewish calendar that Jesus was arrested, tried, and killed.

LOOKING THROUGH A BIBLE LENS

Core Belief: His Word is truth.

Cultural Lie: Easter is just a holiday.

Biblical Worldview: Easter celebrates a moment that changes everything.

Prayer:

Jesus, your Word makes it very clear that you are the final and only necessary sacrifice needed for our forgiveness of sin. This story was knit together over thousands of years of human history and made final on the day you were crucified. Remind us this Easter, through this amazing story, how much you love us, so that we might respond with worship and adoration. In Jesus’ name, amen.

SEEDTIME

Series Summary

Seedtime is not a phrase we use often; most of us aren’t farmers so we don’t have much need of the term. However, for most of human history, the idea of seedtime would have held a tremendous power. Consider more modern equivalents like Tax Day, election day, wedding day, or graduation day. Seedtime, like these concepts we can relate to, was rife with anticipation, pressure, and expectation. It was a window of time where a tremendously import set of events needed to happen otherwise the consequences would be felt far and wide. It was also a pivotal point in the calendar that demanded to be taken seriously. It’s seedtime right now, and over the next three weeks, we’ll explore what should be done to maximize the impact of this important moment as we wrap up our year together.

2024-25

TH E ME VERSE(S)

PSALM 1:1-3

1 Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers,

2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night.

3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers.

Plow ARTICLE SUMMARY

I have a friend who has thousands of cactuses! No, seriously, thousands! You might have an aloe vera plant mixed in among your landscaping, or a prickly pear you have to prune back twice a year, he has thousands of them. When I went to his house, I was blown away by the whole operation. While he was giving me the tour, he dropped a simple detail, “cactuses don’t do well with too much water so they really need soil that drains well.” He went on to mention that he’s developed his own soil mix. My friend’s connection between the health of the plant and that of the soil it is rooted in, is also true in our spiritual lives. Our hearts, when they are dead in sin, are described as hard ground. In Hosea 10:12 the prophet tells us to prepare ourselves to seek God by, “breaking up our unplowed [hearts]”. The seed of righteousness, the desire and ability to do what’s right, will be planted in our hearts. So, prepare the soil of your heart to receive the seed and produce a har vest of righteousness in your life.

I have a friend who has thousands of cactuses! No, seriously, thousands! You might have an aloe vera plant mixed in among your landscaping, or a prickly pear you have to prune back twice a year, he has thousands of different varieties of cactuses and succulents. When I went to his house, I was blown away by the whole operation.

While he was giving me the tour, he said, “cactuses don’t do well with too much water so they really need soil that drains well.” My friend’s connection between the health of the plant and that of the soil is an excellent analogy for what it looks like to prepare the soil of our hearts.

As we’re approaching the end of this school year, it’s time to ask yourself the question, “Where do I go from here?” Don’t just drift aimlessly into the next season. Take ownership of where you are and how you got there, then evaluate what changes are necessary to progress.

To plant seeds and become a tree planted by streams of water… you’ll need to start by plowing. Hosea 10:12 admonishes you to, “Sow righteousness for yourselves, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the Lord, until he comes and showers his righteousness on you.”

All of us have fields of hard ground in our hearts. They’re the places we don’t want people to ask us about, places where we feel guilt and shame, disappointment, anger, or where we’ve just given up hope of ever changing. The places in our hearts that we hide from God and others, are hard ground and need to be plowed up and prepared.

What are these places for you? Mabe they’re unproductive relationships, or undisciplined areas overrun with weeds? Pull out a notebook and write them down. Here’s some examles: “I didn’t study enough.” “I invested a lot of my time with the wrong friends.” “I was mean to people.” “I am addicted.” “I wasted too much time on my phone.” “I gave in to pressure and compromised my boundaries.”

Regardless of what you might have written, take my friends’ advice and get your soil right. It’s seedtime, and God desires to plant righteousness, goodness, and love in your heart, that you might bear fruit and prosper. Take the things you’ve written down to a trusted friend or mentor and confess them and ask for accountability. Commit to praying and asking God to guide you to different results. Delete some apps, or put down your phone during meals, whatever. Don’t just keep planting yourself in the same soil day after day and be back in the same position next year wondering how you got there.

Fruit in the next season of your life will be produced based on how well you plow the soil of your heart today. God is with you, and His forgiveness and grace are available to all who turn to Him. Turn therefore into the gracious arms of Jesus and start plowing!

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. Talk about a time you grew something from a seed? What was the preparation like? Did your plant thrive?

2. Talk about the differences between what kind of soil a cactus might need compared with the ideal soil of a pine tree or daisy. How might this relate to the considerations we should make in our spiritual lives?

KEY VERSE( s )

Hosea 10:12

12 Sow righteousness for yourselves, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the Lord, until he comes and showers his righteousness on you.

3. What is an area of frustration in your life that you would like to see changed by this time next year?

4. Do you believe you can grow? Do you believe you can overcome the things that are holding you back or stunting your growth?

5. In the parable of the Sower (Mathew 13), only those seeds that fall on good ground will thrive, make a list of benefits of being this kind of person and share a success you’ve experienced in your spiritual journey where God’s fruit was produced.

LOOKING THROUGH A BIBLE LENS

Core Belief: Jesus is our Lord.

Cultural Lie: Religion doesn’t work.

Biblical Worldview: Faith grows only in a new, living heart.

Prayer:

Jesus, we fully trust in your sovereignty and believe that you are orchestrating the infinite complexity of human history according to your will. We also understand how, paradoxically, you’ve left us with freedom to act. As we seek to plow the soil of our heart to prepare it for what you will do next, guide our minds and hands to the things that will produce the greatest results. Convict us of our stubborn hard-hearted resistance and shine your light of truth on our ignorance that in this seedtime we may become good soil. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Plant ARTICLE SUMMARY

My reward is tied to my faithfulness, not my fame. In 1 Corinthians 3:6-9 Paul brags on Apollos, a dynamic preacher who many felt was more persuasive than Paul. Paul’s mature, and humble view of the matter dismisses it easilyApollos is doing his part, and I’m doing mine, he says. Are we okay with the cards we’ve been dealt? Have you maximized the opportunities you’ve been given? Are you prone to give in to discouragement because you’ve not been given someone else’s gifts and opportunities and, in that way, neglected the seed in your hand? The admonition for all of us is to plant the seed we’ve been given and do it as unto the Lord.

It is so tempting to compare our lives to others’, especially now that people’s lives are so readily on display through the many-headed monster of media in all its ubiquitous forms. Unless you are disciplined, really disciplined, you can hardly escape the nagging, on-going, never-ending temptation to compare everything you do and say to other’s lives.

Last summer, I was at Mapleridge Ranch for a week. It’s a small Christian sleep-away camp in Owego, NY run by my cousin, Duane, and his wife Tiana. One of the things they are committed to is giving kids an opportunity to be unplugged. On Sunday, when everyone arrives there is a general reticence to give up the phone, but by the next Saturday, there’s a reticence to take it back. All through the week, campers engaged with increasing freedom in being themselves, joining in with joy and enthusiasm in all the silly games and activities. And, why not? No one had their phone out, and there was no threat of them being exposed. It was beautiful!

Regularly the campers report that being free of the constant pressure and nagging vibrations of their devices, is their favorite part of the camp experience.

We were not designed to be endlessly bombarded with all that comes with a digitally connected world. The result is a

paralyzing sense of discouragement and anxiety as we struggle to get our heads above the temptation to compare our lives to unachievable standards.

How can you focus on doing a good job with the opportunities you DO have when anything you try to do can instantly be measured against someone who is doing it ten times better, faster, more creatively, and for a profit? You can’t! And you’re not supposed to.

Paul was confronted with a similar issue in I Corinthians 3:6-9 when people were comparing his efforts as a preacher to those of Apollos. Here’s what Paul says, “I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So, neither the one who plants nor the one who waters are anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building.” In other words, you don’t compare! Your purpose is yours alone. Paul wasn’t a memorable preacher like Apollos because he was destined to be the author of much of the New Testament. His preaching was secondary to God’s call on His life to write, build relationships, and empower leaders. Imagine what we would be missing if Paul had forsaken his seed in order to be more like Apollos.

Paul was handed a seed by God and expected to plant it in obedience and so were you. In this second step of embracing seedtime in your life, just plant the seed you have – that’s it. Play the instrument, even if you don’t get a scholarship for it. Play the sport, even if you don’t go pro; or go pro with the sport if that’s the seed you’ve been handed. But do what you’ve been called to do with the seed you’ve been given and leave comparison to the birds!

Maybe you’d consider heading north to Owego, NY this summer for a week at Mapleridge camp where you can unplug and free yourself of the poison of comparison. You’ll love it, I promise. We’ll be there!

But, if it’s not Mapleridge, let it be somewhere. The seed you’ve been given is too important to the work of God in and through your life to be left to rot in the silo of comparison. Plant it, whatever it is, and trust God to make it grow in your life and community.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. What are you good at? What do you love doing?

2. Have you ever been discouraged from doing something you love because you’re not as good as others at doing it?

3. How much time do you spend on your device on an average day? What are the apps you spend most of your time on?

4. What do you think would happen in your life if you spent an entire week unplugged from your phone?

5. Paul gives us an example of how we might embrace our unique calling in 1 Corinthians 3:6-9, who do you most readily compare yourself to? How is your “seed” different from theirs?

KEY VERSE( s )

1 Corinthians 3:6-9

6 I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. 7 So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters are anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 8 The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. 9 For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building.

LOOKING THROUGH A BIBLE LENS

Core Belief:

Jesus is our Lord.

Cultural Lie:

Be famous, build your brand.

Biblical Worldview: Be faithful as an ambassador for Jesus.

Prayer:

Jesus, because we cannot see all that you have planned for us, we have to accept in faith that you will take what we do for you and multiply it according to your will. Our faith is tested and strained by all that we see in and around us. Give us courage to disconnect from the world in order to more clearly hear your voice. Give us faith like a mustard seed, to do all we can with what we’ve been given and leave the results in your hands. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Wait for it

ARTICLE SUMMARY

We don’t like waiting! But waiting is a central part of our faith. There is an “already, not yet” factor we have to weigh in to every experience in life. In the case of the seniors who are graduating, you are already old enough to vote, go to war, chose a spouse without your parents’ permission, pay taxes, drive a car, a motorcycle or a boat, and sign a lease on your own apartment, but you can’t buy tobacco, alcohol, rent a car, or buy a gun, not yet anyway.

That’s right, you’re old enough to die in a war, but not old enough to rent a car. Because of this, you have to wait, or at least you’re supposed to. But we don’t like waiting. The Bible uses the image of a mustard seed to describe the kingdom of God because to fully discover the kingdom takes time. In reference to the coming Messiah, Zechariah prophesied that we should not despise small beginnings. In other words, if we never learn to wait joyfully on what seems insignificant, we may miss that which is most significant. Wait for it, it’s worth it!

We don’t like waiting! But waiting is a central part of our faith. There is an “already, not yet” factor we have to consider in every experience in life. In the case of the seniors who are graduating, you are already old enough to vote, go to war, choose a spouse without your parents’ permission, pay taxes, drive a car, a motorcycle or a boat, and sign a lease on your own apartment. On the other hand, you can’t legally buy tobacco, alcohol, rent a car, or buy a gun, not yet anyway.

This doesn’t feel fair, right? “Why should I have to wait?” You say, “I’m old enough to die in a war, but not old enough to rent a car or buy a drink? It’s not fair!”

We don’t like waiting and some of you don’t. But have you considered what you might be missing out on by taking now, what might be better later? Waiting is part of life. After all, there’s nine months built into the process of becoming a parent. There’s time required before cashing in on investments, there’s wisdom in counting to 10 before responding if you value your relationships. Similarly, you can get married at eighteen, but to become a great spouse takes a lifetime. You can go to war at eighteen, but to become a seasoned soldier takes time, discipline and

training. You can get lots of money quickly, but wisdom to know how to manage it well takes time.

When do you learn how to wait for things that require it if you never practice waiting? Most of our spiritual journey makes us wait. The Bible uses the image of a mustard seed to describe the kingdom of God because to fully discover the kingdom takes time.

I’m convinced that the things we really want in life can only be gained in time. We want joy, a deep sense of peace and belonging that often comes in spite of suffering and loss, but we settle for happiness, a condition of circumstances, often artificially altered. We want true intimacy and love, the byproduct of humility, mutual trust, confession of sin, honesty, transparency and commitment, but we settle for popularity, fame, and social acceptance.

We don’t like to wait, but we also don’t like the results of shallow pursuits and surface level lives.

In reference to the coming Messiah, Zechariah prophesied that we should not despise small beginnings. In other words,

if we never learn to wait joyfully on what seems insignificant, we may miss that which is most significant.

As you step into the next season of your life, be content to start at the bottom and work your way up. There are untold treasures to be found in the simple, mundane tasks that make up regular service and necessary work. Prospering comes in the end to those who are willing to wait for it. So, don’t worry if you don’t have everything you ever wanted immediately just wait for it, it’s worth it!

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. How are you at waiting? Tell a story about a time you’ve had to wait for something that you really wanted but when it finally came you realized the wait was worth it.

2. What is the hardest thing about waiting for something you really want?

3. The word impetuous describes someone who cannot wait and often leaps without thinking. Talk about a time you acted impetuously and paid the consequences for your unwillingness to wait.

KEY VERSE( s )

Matthew 13:31-32

31 He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. 32 Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.”

Zechariah 4:10

10 “Who dares despise the day of small things, since the seven eyes of the Lord that range throughout the earth will rejoice when they see the chosen capstone in the hand of Zerubbabel?”

LOOKING THROUGH A BIBLE LENS

Core Belief:

We are truly free in Christ.

Cultural Lie:

You deserve instant gratification.

Biblical Worldview:

Wait on and trust in the Lord and find satisfaction.

4. If the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed, what does that mean about how long it might take to begin showing itself in your life?

5. What is something in your life that is small today but could become a central part of your life down the road? How can you cherish and celebrate the small beginning while you wait on the future growth and outcome?

Prayer:

Jesus, we don’t like to wait because we’re in pain and we’re tired and we feel frustrated and overlooked. We’re clamoring for attention, credit, and relief and we don’t need to. You have promised your presence and provision in our lives. You love us more deeply and you know us more intimately than anyone else could. Help us to rest in you and wait on your will to unfold as we stay faithful in the simple beginnings of our life today. In Jesus’ name, amen.

CLOSING THOUGHTS

2024-25

TH E ME VERSE(S)

Series Summary

As we wrap up our year together, there are a couple of closing thoughts we need to consider: How do we defend our faith against those who would seek to steal it away? And what does it look like to prosper? We’ll not finish these conversations—in fact, we may barely get them started—but for most of us, we’ll simply pick up where we left off next year. So let’s do all we can while we have the opportunity, or as my farmer friends from Minnesota used to say, “make hay while the sun shines.

PSALM 1:1-3

1 Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers,

2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night.

3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers.

Dad Jokes

ARTICLE SUMMARY

When does a dad joke become funny? When the punch line becomes “apparent.”

Matthew 7:15-20 is no laughing matter. People, who do not know God, will try to drag you away from your faith. What do you do? I wish the answer were as simple as, “Make like a tree and leave.” Instead, the practical wisdom in this verse is found in the fruit. Pay attention to the fruit in a person’s life, if they’re saying one thing and living another, beware. If they’re selling you something that they’re not buying, beware.

What did Adam say when asked what his favorite holiday is?

“Obviously Christmas, Eve”

What kind of car did Jesus drive? “A Christler.”

Why did Adam and Eve do math all the time? “God told them to be fruitful and multiply.”

How do you know that Atoms are Catholic? “They have mass.”

Which Bible character was funniest? “Samson, he brought the house down.”

Jesus warns us in Matthew 7:15-20 to beware of false prophets, people who come disguised as someone who can help and relate to you but are actually dangerous predators. Jesus helps us spot their lies before they have a chance to take hold of us. Like the terrible dad jokes we started this article with, we ought to roll our eyes in disgust when these ferocious wolves try to tempt us away from our faith, because their methods are just as dumb.

Would you take financial advice from someone who hasn’t managed their money well? Would you hire a trainer who lives a very unhealthy lifestyle? Would you invest in an organization who has never posted a profit? No, no, and no! And if someone tried to convince you to do any of these things you’d think they were joking!

Jesus is teaching us something that is intuitively true, we naturally look for evidence that someone is applying what they’re teaching and using what they’re selling. And if they’re not, we don’t trust them.

In spiritual matters, it is the same thing. When someone tells you that living a life without moral restrictions is better, freer, and more fulfilling for example, consider their fruit. Are they thriving in the areas they’re suggesting you place your hope? Has their “product” produced the results hey’re proclaiming?

Perhaps you might object that Christians are not much different. They promise hope, peace, contentment, and social renewal only to show up on TV sewing discord, or show up in your life, angry, sullen, and broken. It’s a fair objection, as Christians are not perfect, but don’t get confused, being a Christian isn’t about following other Christians, it’s about following Christ. We cannot abandon our faith in Jesus because someone else’s faith is weak or incomplete.

Instead, like Jesus did, we love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. If they ask us to go one mile, we go with them two. If the strike us in the cheek, we turn to offer them the other one also. Why? Because a life lived without forgiveness and grace where retaliation, bitterness, and resentment reign, is ultimately a miserable, lonely life.

Pay attention to the fruit, and don’t get tricked by the fake stuff. Jesus is the way the truth and the life and no one comes to the Father except through Him. The people who are genuinely seeking Him will make mistakes and will be far from perfect, but you will see the fruit of repentance in their life, and you’ll know you’re seeing the real thing.

Just like you can’t tell what the punchline of a good dad joke will be and then when it’s revealed you roll your eyes at how obvious (and usually dumb) it is. When you get good at filtering the world’s deceptions through the truth of Jesus, you’ll know the lies when you see them.

Then, like Psalm 1:3, you can be like a tree and leaf...

KEY VERSE( s )

Matthew 7:15-20

15 “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16 By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. Share your favorite dad joke.

2. Talk about a time you’ve had your faith tested.

3. Give some examples of what “fruit” you would expect to see in a genuine follower of Jesus?

4. How should people who claim to be Christians but act in ways that seem opposite of how Jesus taught and acted be treated? Can you share some biblical truths to back up your thoughts?

5. As Christians, what does it mean to stand firm in our faith? What can we assume will be part of our faith journey if we’re commanded to stand firm?

LOOKING THROUGH A BIBLE LENS

Core Belief: His Word is truth.

Cultural Lie:

We can trust what the world offers.

Biblical Worldview:

God’s word is truth, and all things need to be measured against His word.

Prayer:

Jesus, we are sometimes easily beguiled by the world. People and things that are dangerous for us rarely present themselves in their true form, rather they masquerade as something good. Give us eyes to discern the truth from lies. Help us to fix our eyes on you and teach us to turn away from the empty promises of the world. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Be Prosperous

ARTICLE SUMMARY

If there’s a verse we all think of first when we think about prospering it is probably Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and future.” This is an excellent verse to focus on when thinking about your future.

This year, we’ve focused on Psalm 1:3 and as we wrap up our discussion on this verse it is my hope that you prosper. I hope you have a greater sense of what it takes to be rooted in Christ. By remaining planted in Jesus, and faithful to His church we can be regularly nourished by his Word and showered with His righteousness. We can dig deeper, prepare the soil of our hearts, and wait on God’s timing. When we remain, like a tree, rooted in Jesus, our living water, then He knows the plans He has for us, and those plans include our thriving and prospering in Him. But if we do not live like this tree in Psalm 1:3 then we will wither and not bear fruit. Trust in Christ and Thrive.

What is true wealth? Can a surplus of possessions truly bring us contentment and joy? Certainly, there’s a point at which getting another T-shirt no longer brings the kind of fulfillment it once did, right?

What is success? Can a case full of trophies create in you a true sense of self-worth? Will a louder applause ever fill your need to be known and seen? Certainly, there’s a point at which being noticed and celebrated will cease to be enough to heal your insecurities. And if you leave yourself open to receive the praise of others, haven’t you also left yourself vulnerable to their criticisms? Maybe it’s not wise to measure your success in terms of the world’s standards of approval.

What is prosperity? In Psalm 1:3 we’re promised that we can prosper, like a tree planted by streams of water who bears

fruit and stays green. Is prosperity measured in material possessions and status alone?

In scripture we are shown examples of people, like Solomon, who were prospering by the world’s standard and yet in Ecclesiastes declared that everything the world has to offer is meaningless. Or, Job, who had and then lost and then got back tremendous wealth and status only to conclude that the true value was in knowing God and trusting His will. Or, Hannah, who once she finally received the fulfillment of her highest prayer in her son Samuel, did not selfishly keep and cherish him, but instead gave him freely back to the Lord.

Prospering is not about accumulating stuff, titles, experiences, wisdom, knowledge, power or anything that the world has to offer instead it is about abiding in Jesus.

Be prosperous this summer as you do all you’re going to do. Whether you’re traveling in exotic places or relaxing at home. Take time each day to root yourself in Jesus. Read His word. Pray. Attend church weekly to worship with a group of like-minded believers. Give. Serve. Walk humbly and bear fruit.

If you want to be prosperous, if you want to thrive, then be like a tree planted by streams of water and lose your life in Jesus.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. Who is the most successful person in the world? By what standard are you measuring that success?

2. Who is the wealthiest person in the world? Could someone who has much less be much more content?

3. What does it mean to prosper? Who would you hold up as an example of someone you know who is prospering in their life.

KEY VERSE( s )

Psalm 1:1-3

1 Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers,

2 but whose delight is in the law of the LORD, and who meditates on his law day and night.

3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers.

Jeremiah 29:11

11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

4. Jesus says that in order to gain your life, you must first lose it (Matthew 16:25) what do you think He means by this?

5. What specific steps will you commit to take this summer to stay connected with Jesus? Make of list of three things you will commit to do regularly and send them to someone you trust to hold you accountable.

Core Belief: Jesus in our Lord.

Looking through a Bible Lens

Cultural Lie:

In order to thrive, I’ve got to have a plan.

Biblical Worldview:

Jesus is our Lord, and to thrive in this life and in the life to come I need to bow my knee to Him.

Prayer:

Jesus, we want to be prosperous. We don’t want to settle for the cheap substitutes like, material possessions and popularity. They are nice and we’re grateful for them when they come, but they will not sustain our soul. Help us to find our hope and fulfillment in you. We want to know you more. We want to lose our lives in yours. In Your name, amen.