October 1: Groups Guide

About This Guide

The online groups guide is designed as a teaching series companion to foster discussion, study, and prayer, especially in a group setting.

Join a weekly group for a meaningful way to connect to our community.

pdf download

Download this PDF to help you make a plan to follow Jesus in your everyday life, including diagnostic questions to help get you started.

Pickup a print version at our weekly in-person Sunday gatherings.

more Resources

Explore a curated online collection of recommended practices and resources to pursue presence, formation, and love in your life.

Questions about the series or looking for a way to get involved? Contact us.

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Love

Teaching Texts: John 13: 1-17

It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God;so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”

Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”

“No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.”

Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”

“Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!”

Jesus answered, “Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.” For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean.

When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

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Themes

Consider these themes and ask your group what else they see in the passage:

• Joy Complete

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Formation 

Thoughts and notes you can use for discussion:

• God wants your joy to be complete and Jesus is showing us The Way

  • Look at how Jesus understands His identity

  • “Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; 4 so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. 5 After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him. “ – John 13 v 3-5

• He takes up the job reserved for the lowest servant 

• He moves to the humble place. He takes the job no one wants to do.

• He washes the real-life grime out from between the toes of His friends.

  • What are some irrefutable truths of your identity?

  • How could understanding our identity affect how we respond to those we love? Or those we are called to serve? Or even our enemies? 

• Later in these upcoming hours, He is going to say multiple times I want you to have My Joy. I want your joy to be complete.

• One of the secrets of Joy that God knows and we are invited to learn is that power is for service, the truly happy life is one of service and love …

  • What are the paths to joy that you recognize the world around you offers?

• Jesus is showing us the shocking truth of how God uses power. To serve.

• “He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”

  Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”

  “No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.”

  Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”

  “Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!”

  Jesus answered, “Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.” For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean.” – John 13 v 6-11

• Peter shows us a bunch of reasonable responses that all miss the Kingdom of God

  • You are the King, you shouldn’t wash my feet - Peter is seen several times trying to talk Jesus out of taking the low road of humility 

  • I am not worthy of this act - it is easy for us to let our sins and failures swell so we imagine them larger than God’s mercy 

  • OK fine but the rest of of me also needs this - we struggle to receive. We struggle to believe that God can make us clean without us directing the process.

    • thank you for you sentiment, let me show you how to fix me

• We want to control God and how God is seen 

• We want to control our lives and how we are seen 

• We imagine our current mood or feeling is the truest thing about us 

  • What are some reasonable responses you can recognize in your life that also might miss what God intends in His kingdom? 

  • What areas do you desire to control how you are perceived? 

  • What areas do you try to control how God is perceived?

• “When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them.  “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.” – John 13 v 12-17

• But we aren’t blessed if we understand that concept.

  We are blessed if we do this.

• Our world says power is having the upward mobility to never have to do the inconvenient things, thats the dream 

• God is showing us when you are truly secure and full of love you can serve others.

• To be like Jesus is to grow in the ease and spontaneity with which we do the little, annoying, messy things, the things we always secretly hope someone else will do so we won’t have to waste our time, to demean ourselves.

• It is a pattern we can follow - it shows us the way of Love

• Learn the mysterious God-type Joy of love expressed in service

  • The world’s vision of power is so much more alluring in the surface, but once you get into it, you realize it is empty 

• The apostle Paul shows us the pattern in his letter to the Philippians

  • “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. 

    In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ 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. 

    And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled himself by becoming obedient to death — even death on a cross! 

    Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the Name that is above every name, 

    that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 

    and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” – Philippians 2 v 3-11

• Jesus trusted His identity and future to the Father so He was able to take the nature of a servant

  And God exalted Him 

• Can you trust God that way?

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June 18: Groups Guide

About This Guide

The online groups guide is designed as a teaching series companion to foster discussion, study, and prayer, especially in a group setting.

Join a weekly group for a meaningful way to connect to our community.

pdf download

Download this PDF to help you make a plan to follow Jesus in your everyday life, including diagnostic questions to help get you started.

Pickup a print version at our weekly in-person Sunday gatherings.

more Resources

Explore a curated online collection of recommended practices and resources to pursue presence, formation, and love in your life.

Questions about the series or looking for a way to get involved? Contact us.

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Love

Teaching Texts: 1 Peter 2: 4-6

As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by Godand precious to him— you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For in Scripture it says:

“See, I lay a stone in Zion,
    a chosen and precious cornerstone,
and the one who trusts in him
    will never be put to shame.”

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Themes

Consider these themes and ask your group what else they see in the passage:

• Spirit-empowered

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Formation 

Thoughts and notes you can use for discussion:

• Think of a conversation that you had that changed your life. 

• Share this with your group. 

• John 3: 1-8

• This is a pivotal conversation for how we understand salvation

  • Being united to God through Jesus 

  • Being forgiven for our sins - anything that would separate us 

  • Being filled with the life of God 

• “We are not begotten by God, we are only made by Him: in our natural state we are not sons of God, only (so to speak) statues. We have not got Zoe or spiritual life: only Bios or biological life which is presently going to run down and die. Now the whole offer which Christianity makes is this: that we can, if we let God have His way, come to share in the life of Christ. If we do, we shall then be sharing a life which was begotten, not made, which always has existed and always will exist. Christ is the Son of God. If we share in this kind of life we also shall be sons of God. We shall love the Father as He does and the Holy Ghost will arise in us. He came to this world and became a man to spread to other men the kind of life He has…Every Christian is to become a little Christ.” – C.S. Lewis

• We are to be Little Christs built together into a spiritual house.

• What is this spiritual house like?

  • A house of peace

  • A house of priests 

  • A house of gifts

  • A house of compassion

  • A house of presence

• A house of peace - God has given His life - the living stone - rejected by men and chosen by God to bring us to a place of peace (Ephesians 2 v 12-18)

  • So the question is, are we living that experience of PEACE WITH GOD which is your spiritual inheritance? 

  • Is there a disconnect between your positional  peace, received through Jesus, and the experiential peace in your life? 

• A house of priests

  • You are being built into a spiritual house; to be a holy priesthood

  • What do priests do? 

    • Help people remember and connect with the presence of God.

    • Hears confession - to be those who really listen to those around us

      • Really, listening seems to be something of a lost art in the internet age

      • To be those who can receive and enter into other people’s stories

    • Communicates mercy

      • To say there is forgiveness available

      • To say the heart of Christianity is a man dying for His enemies

    • Intercession

      • To be those who pray fervently for the needs of those around us

      • Who stands in the gap

    • Speaking God’s Word

      • Encouraging and building each other up

      • Remembering that God’s words and promises will not fail

• A house of gifts

  • We are given a picture in the New Testament of a people equipped to love in the way of Jesus by the power and gifting of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12 v 4-13)

• A house of compassion (Romans 12 v 9-18)

  • How do you react when someone gets a win in their life?

  • How do you feel when you see the pain of another?

  • Jesus was moved by compassion - it stirred Him at the center of His being 

• A house of presence

  • There is a beautiful picture in 1 Corinthians 14

  • When people are living as a house of peace, walking in their gifts, moved by compassion.

  • When people are speaking God’s words - as the priesthood of all believers

  • Someone would come in from the outside and say – SURELY GOD IS AMONG YOU

• What parts of a spiritual house do you feel is not as it is intended to be in your life?

• Do you need peace with God?

• Do you long for the distinguishing part of your life to be that God is with you? 

• Do you need to know or begin to live in your Spiritual Gifts?

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June 11: Groups Guide

About This Guide

The online groups guide is designed as a teaching series companion to foster discussion, study, and prayer, especially in a group setting.

Join a weekly group for a meaningful way to connect to our community.

pdf download

Download this PDF to help you make a plan to follow Jesus in your everyday life, including diagnostic questions to help get you started.

Pickup a print version at our weekly in-person Sunday gatherings.

more Resources

Explore a curated online collection of recommended practices and resources to pursue presence, formation, and love in your life.

Questions about the series or looking for a way to get involved? Contact us.

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Love

Teaching Texts: Genesis 1: 1-5

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.

Genesis 2: 1-25

Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.

By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.

This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, when the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.

Now no shrub had yet appeared on the earth and no plant had yet sprung up, for the Lord God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no one to work the ground,but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground.Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.

Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters. The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. (The gold of that land is good; aromatic resin and onyx are also there.) The name of the second river is the Gihon; it winds through the entire land of Cush. The name of the third river is the Tigris; it runs along the east side of Ashur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”

The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”

Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals.

But for Adam no suitable helper was found. So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.

The man said,

“This is now bone of my bones
    and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called ‘woman,’
    for she was taken out of man.”

That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.

Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.

Ephesians 2:10

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

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Themes

Consider these themes and ask your group what else they see in the passage:

• Spirit-empowered Work

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Formation 

Thoughts and notes you can use for discussion:

• Describe the best day you have had at work in the last month. 

• What word would you use to describe how you feel about your job?

• “How can anyone remain interested in a religion which seems to have no concern with nine-tenths of his life?” – Dorothy Sayers

• Your work matters

  • It is not at all that God mostly cares about when you pray or read the Scriptures or attend small group or serve in some obviously charitable way. 

  • God cares deeply about what you do with your energy, and creativity, and time. What you make with your hands or dream up with you mind or lead with your heart 

  • It is no small thing that in Jesus the Word become Flesh and dwelt among us and half His life worked as a carpenter or stone mason in relative obscurity.

• Your journey through life going to present you with some really important questions.

• Potentially none bigger than these three:

  • What will you worship?

  • Who will you love?

  • What will you make? Or do with your time?

• “Tell me, what is it you plan to do

  with your one wild and precious life?” – Mary Oliver

• In Genesis, God shows up on the scene bringing order out of chaos, then we see God pushing back the darkness by the Spirit

• This is part of your calling as well. 

  • And it’s true if you are working your dream job in a fully resonant sense of vocation 

  • Or you are doing work you despise at the moment - waiting for something else 

  • Or anything in between 

• God invites you, God created you to join in 

  • Bringing order out of chaos and pushing back the darkness 

• The Genesis text say there was work to do:

  • Cultivation 

  • Exploration 

  • Bringing order - naming the animals 

  • Some aspects of ruling or dominion 

• “[Human beings] “cultural mandate” - the call to rule, fill, and transform the earth - was established before the Fall and exists independently of our need for redemption. God clearly had an initial basic plan for the development of the newly created earth, which includes human beings cultural involvement.”  – David Bruce Hegeman

• “Humans are called to work the earth in order to uncover the rich potentialities “hidden” as it were, beneath the earths surface. On the most basic, agricultural level, mankind cuts into the earth and sows seed, which grows up into plants, which, when carefully tended, yield fruit in the appointed seasons. Dig deeper and the earth will yield still more riches; precious stones and gold; ore which can be melted to make metals; and basic chemical raw materials which can be synthesized into pigments and dies for artwork, fertilizers to increase crop yields, or rocket fuel to explore God’s vast universe. Other parts of the creation can be transformed as well. Wood can be fashioned into flutes for the praise of God or timbers for buildings, stones can be dressed and fitted into walls etc.” – David Bruce Hegeman, Plowing in Hope

• RULE - FILL - WORK - PRESERVE

  • Rule - have dominion, bring order, make peace, organize for thriving, this isn’t about using power to manipulate

    • Recovered dominion is a big part of what Jesus has done for us in the Gospel

  • Fill - Be fruitful. This call is for the us as a people but also to fill the world with songs and homes and meals and enterprises for good and on and on 

  • Work - make, create, innovate, clean, repair, edit, build, teach, dream, write

    • Build a cabinet, repair an eye, make as latte, craft a lesson plan, make a pitch deck

    • Comfort a mother in labor, coach a team, make something beautiful

    • Sweep a floor, sell a house, argue a case, set a menu 

    • We are made to work

  • Preserve - protect, guard, recycle, tend, manage resources with love

• God has accomplished creation.

• Jesus has accomplished our salvation.

• “Now that you dont have to be perfect , you can be good.”  – John Steinbeck, East of Eden 

• Where can you bring order to chaos? 

  • Think small

  • Think medium 

  • Think big 

• Where can you push back darkness?

  • Give vision, give light, give hope

• Glorify God - represent God in true ways (even if incomplete)

  • RULE - FILL - WORK - PRESERVE

• Here are some questions:

  • What is wrong? Confront and stop

  • What is missing? Create and catalyze.

    • Changes what is possible in a place.

  • What is good? Celebrate and cultivate

    • Enjoy. Share. Spend. Watch. Reward.

  • What is confusing? Clarify and compel.

• “It helps, now and then, to step back and take the long view. The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is beyond our vision. We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God’s work. Nothing we do is complete, which is another way of saying that the kingdom always lies beyond us. No statement says all that could be said. No prayer fully expresses our faith. No confession brings perfection. No pastoral visit brings wholeness. No program accomplishes the church’s mission. No set of goals and objectives includes everything. This is what we are about: We plant seeds that one day will grow. We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise. We lay foundations that will need further development. We provide yeast that produces effects beyond our capabilities. We cannot do everything and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that. This enables us to do something, and to do it very well. It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for God’s grace to enter and do the rest. We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker. We are workers, not master builders, ministers, not messiahs. We are prophets of a future not our own.”  – Oscar Romero, priest in El Salvador

• Pray over our endeavors

  • Work challenges Confusion or Opportunities 

  • Pray for each other

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June 4: Groups Guide

About This Guide

The online groups guide is designed as a teaching series companion to foster discussion, study, and prayer, especially in a group setting.

Join a weekly group for a meaningful way to connect to our community.

pdf download

Download this PDF to help you make a plan to follow Jesus in your everyday life, including diagnostic questions to help get you started.

Pickup a print version at our weekly in-person Sunday gatherings.

more Resources

Explore a curated online collection of recommended practices and resources to pursue presence, formation, and love in your life.

Questions about the series or looking for a way to get involved? Contact us.

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Love

Teaching Text: Acts 2: 42-47

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their numberdaily those who were being saved.

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Themes

Consider these themes and ask your group what else they see in the passage:

• Pentecost

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Formation 

For group discussion:

• Which forces shape your life the most in your present moment? 

• What do you think changes in someone's life when they become a follower of Jesus?
  

For reflection:

• What do you do the day after your life changes?

• Our life often changes in two ways.

  • Breakthroughs and habits

• Significant moments like:

  • We meet God in Salvation

  • We experience a shame freeing experience of love or forgiveness

  • God shows us how seen and known and loved we are

  • You have a new insight into God's character

  • You come to the absolute end of a thought or behavior thats been sapping your life and you cry our for help and God meets you

  • Maybe the Spirit leads you to a new place of surrender of obedience

• And now you have to decide how you are going to live - especially after the adrenaline or emotion or immediate challenge has passed.

• How will you shape your time?

• What will fill up your thinking?

• What will relationships look like?

• How will you do mornings?

• What will the rhythms of you week be?

• What will be non-negotiable a part of your life?

• A way to ask this is what you will be devoted to?

• What changes in me can be put into three categories:

  • Identity: WHO YOU ARE - known, loved, forgiven, adopted in the family of God, filled with the Spirit, qualified to share in the inheritance of the saints

  • Desires: WHAT YOU WANT - God’s Word, God’s presence, Expressions of the Kingdom of God, people to experience God’s love, to use my gifts and talents to reflect God and do good, to lift others up, etc

  • Rhythms: HOW YOU LIVE - how I spend my time, my energy, my attention, my money, how my actual days go, what my habits are

• But it’s not just automatic:

  • ​​What if you have a moment or season of forgetting or losing who you are?

  • What if your desires are primarily shaped by our moment in American culture, advertisements, social media, or just selfishness?

  • What if your life doesn’t match who you say you are or what you want most?

• This passage at the end of Acts 2 is an incredible guide….

  • Their lives changed in a radical moment

• What were they devoted to?

• We are told of 4 things they were devoted to the Rhythm of their life.

  • The Apostle’s Teaching

  • Fellowship 

  • Breaking of Bread

  • Prayer

• Apostles teaching – instead of just being shaped by their wider culture they were forms by God’s Word to the 

• The Fellowship – instead of remaining isolated and going it on their own or using the world’s criteria for evaluation, they joined in this new shared life.

• Breaking of bread – In being devoted to the meal, they were devoted to keeping Jesus and the message of the Gospel at the center of their shared lives.

• Prayer – as you learn to pray, you will learn to enjoy God

  • Start praying in the simplest ways.

    • Begin and end your day 

    • Make spaces where you pray 

    • Practice venting as you go

    • Normalize praying together 

    • Don’t despise small beginnings

    • Prayer changes lives

• “Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” – ACTS 2

• The most incredible things flow out of a life of devotion to the things of the Holy Spirit

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May 28: Groups Guide

About This Guide

The online groups guide is designed as a teaching series companion to foster discussion, study, and prayer, especially in a group setting.

Join a weekly group for a meaningful way to connect to our community.

pdf download

Download this PDF to help you make a plan to follow Jesus in your everyday life, including diagnostic questions to help get you started.

Pickup a print version at our weekly in-person Sunday gatherings.

more Resources

Explore a curated online collection of recommended practices and resources to pursue presence, formation, and love in your life.

Questions about the series or looking for a way to get involved? Contact us.

---

Love

Teaching Text: Acts 2: 1-41

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken.Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”

Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.”

Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:

“‘In the last days, God says,
    I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
    your young men will see visions,
    your old men will dream dreams.
Even on my servants, both men and women,
    I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
    and they will prophesy.
I will show wonders in the heavens above
    and signs on the earth below,
    blood and fire and billows of smoke.
The sun will be turned to darkness
    and the moon to blood
    before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.
And everyone who calls
    on the name of the Lord will be saved.’

“Fellow Israelites, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. But God raised him from the dead,freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him. David said about him:

“‘I saw the Lord always before me.
    Because he is at my right hand,
    I will not be shaken.
Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
    my body also will rest in hope,
because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead,
    you will not let your holy one see decay.
You have made known to me the paths of life;
    you will fill me with joy in your presence.’

“Fellow Israelites, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. Seeing what was to come, he spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, that he was not abandoned to the realm of the dead, nor did his body see decay. God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it. Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear. For David did not ascend to heaven, and yet he said,

“‘The Lord said to my Lord:
    “Sit at my right hand
until I make your enemies
    a footstool for your feet.”’

“Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”

When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”

Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”

With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.

---

Themes

Consider these themes and ask your group what else they see in the passage:

• Pentecost

---

Formation 

Thoughts and notes you can use for discussion:

• How would you describe your experience of the Holy Spirit?

• What about the Holy Spirit is confusing for you? 

• What about the Holy Spirit is intriguing to you? 

• During the Pentecost season we will look at: 

  • What does the Holy Spirit do?

  • When God is ministering to us by the Holy Spirit what should we expect?

  • Exactly what is most needed (This is not always what is most expected)

• The Holy Spirit does exactly what is needed to bring the reality of God's life to bear on a person, place, or situation.

  • Sometimes its gifts, words, power, encouragement, truth, conviction comfort. 

• The Holy Spirit lifts up and points to Jesus. The Holy Spirit makes the ministry of Jesus visible in a place.

• In Acts 2 the Holy Spirit comes as fire and wind

  • Because they needed to be reminded that that’s just like the temple dedication in Exodus (confirming this is the new temple)

  • They needed unified language - to reverse the division and scattered nature of human beings

  • That’s what Jesus does and that’s what the Spirit was doing for these people in this moment

• Pentecost

  • “For a first-century Jew, Pentecost was the fiftieth day after Passover. It was an agricultural festival. It was the day when farmers brought the first sheaf of wheat from the crop, and offered it to God, partly as a sign of gratitude and partly as a prayer that all the rest of the crop, too, would be safely gathered in.” – NT WRIGHT

  • “Passover was the time when the lambs were sacrificed, and the Israelites were saved from the avenging angel who slew the firstborn of the Egyptians. Off went the Israelites that very night, and passed through the Red Sea into the Sinai desert. Then, 50 days after Passover, they came to Mount Sinai, where Moses received the law. Pentecost, the fiftieth day, isn’t (in other words) just about the ‘first fruits’, the sheaf which says the harvest has begun. It’s about God giving to his redeemed people the way of life by which they must now carry out His purposes.” – NT WRIGHT

• Jesus said: “you will receive power”

  • What do you think the power is that Jesus wants to give us? 

• We often are led through experience and history to think of the dangers of power or the corruption it can bring…

• But what would it mean for us to receive power from God?

  • “Power is the ability to make something of the world ... Power is simply (and not so simply) the ability to participate in the stuff making, sense making process that is the most distinctive thing that humans do.

    Power in the broadest sense of making something of the world, is a universal quality of life from coral reefs to cellists. But only human beings, as far as we can tell, exercise power in the second sense [of not just] make stuff but making sense. It is the unique power of human beings to invest our creations with meaning, to interpret the world rather than just blunder through it. As singular as our human power has become to physically reshape the world into gardens and cities, dammed rivers and mushroom clouds, even more singular is our ability to pass on meaning to the next generation, to shape their horizons of possibility with interpretations of not just what the world is, but what it is for.” – Andy Crouch

• We are made in the image of our powerful God to participate in making and making meaning.

  • “The whole point is that, through the Spirit, some of the creative power of God Himself comes from heaven to earth and does its work there. The aim is not to give people a ‘spirituality’ which will make the things of earth irrelevant. The point is to transform earth with the power of Heaven, starting with those parts of ‘earth’ which consist of the bodies, minds, hearts and lives of the followers of Jesus—as a community” – NT WRIGHT

• The Holy Spirit brings exactly what is most needed for expressing the life and kingdom of God.

• The Holy Spirit brings the power to have God’s kingdom on earth as it is in Heaven.

• Power on Pentecost manifests largely as a power to speak 

  • What is needed in order to make sense of the moment 

  • AND make sense of life and the invitation of union with God. 

  • It also shows up as the power to revel in that union and respond to that message

• What does the Holy Spirit say through Peter?

  • God has always intended to fill our lives

  • You can have a full share in Jesus’ resurrection

  • Here is how to have both - How you can get in on both

    • Repent

    • Be baptized in the name of Jesus

    • Receive the gift

• The Ministry of the Holy Spirit

  • Engage our senses in the reality of God’s presence - Acts 2

  • ‘Advocate to help and be with you forever - the Spirit of Truth’ -John 14

  • But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My Name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. - John 14

  • “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—He will testify about Me. And you also must testify, for you have been with Me from the beginning. - John 15

  • But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. When He comes, He will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: about sin, because people do not believe in Me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see Me no longer; and about judgment, because the Prince of this world now stands condemned. - John 16

  • He will glorify Me because it is from Me that He will receive what He will make known to you. All that belongs to the Father is Mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from Me what He will make known to you.” - John 16

  • Soften and renew our hearts - Ezekiel 36

  • Bring the prophetic Word of God to His people from all categories of people -Joel 2

• Love us as God loves us:

  • Advocate

  • Apply God’s love and Gospel

  • Exalt Jesus

  • Empower love

  • Convict when we’ve gone wrong

  • Gift

  • Unify

• “When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” 

• Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.” 

• They repent 

• They believe 

• They receive 

• This is our pattern as well…

  • Commit to reorder your life around Jesus 

  • Trust His life for forgiveness and freedom 

  • Receive the life the Holy Spirit gives

---

May 21: Groups Guide

About This Guide

The online groups guide is designed as a teaching series companion to foster discussion, study, and prayer, especially in a group setting.

Join a weekly group for a meaningful way to connect to our community.

pdf download

Download this PDF to help you make a plan to follow Jesus in your everyday life, including diagnostic questions to help get you started.

Pickup a print version at our weekly in-person Sunday gatherings.

more Resources

Explore a curated online collection of recommended practices and resources to pursue presence, formation, and love in your life.

Questions about the series or looking for a way to get involved? Contact us.

---

Love

Teaching Text: Acts 1: 1-11

In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”

He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria,and to the ends of the earth.”

After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.

They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”

---

Themes

Consider these themes and ask your group what else they see in the passage:

• Ascension

---

Formation 

Thoughts and notes you can use for discussion:

• Can you think of a time in your life when waiting was excruciating? 

• Share this with the group. 

• How good would you say you are at waiting patiently? 

• Luke begins the sequel to his first book with these words…

  “In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach 2 until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. 3 After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.” – Acts 1

• Luke starts Dear Theo

• Acts is the continuation of Jesus’ ministry

• Luke is attempting to lay out an honest and orderly account of Jesus and His movement so that Theophilus can know the truth of it all.

• And His resurrection changed everything for them and He showed them that the Kingdom of God was coming on earth as it is in Heaven!

• Now Jesus is leaving.

• Advent and Christmas we get  - We celebrate the Incarnation - that God would come and live among us in the person of Jesus - Immanuel - We have Advent and Christmas

• Holy Week and Easter - we throw a party -  we celebrate the power of the Cross and Resurrection - that Jesus has died and on our behalf taken all of our sin on himself and then having dealt with sin and death has risen to new life - we have Holy Week and Easter 

• But Ascension Sunday???  we certainly have no similar culture-wide celebration for and can often be easily overlooked even by those who are followers of Jesus

• The could be many reasons for this…

  1. The incarnation powerfully communicates God’s nearness, revelation, and love, that our pains and joys are known by God

  2. The cross and resurrection powerfully show God’s love and make possible salvation for us and the world. That death is not the end 

  3. The ascension however is a moment where Jesus becomes absent and where we are reminded of the unfamiliarity of God

• But consider what we see in this moment of Jesus’ disappearance …

  • On one occasion, while He was eating with them, He gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”  Then they gathered around Him and asked Him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” 

    He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” After He said this, He was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid Him from their sight. They were looking intently up into the sky as He was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 1“Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”  – Acts 1 v 4-11

• Wait for the gift

• There are times when then most important thing you can do is WAIT.

• Jesus is leaving in physical form because JESUS IS GOING TO ARRIVE in THE HOLY SPIRIT 

• How should we begin this mission of God… a world changing initiative? 

  • WAIT

• There are some echoes of the first sabbath here…

• We work from rest. We don’t work to rest. 

• Jesus mission for them to join is to bring redemption, salvation, forgiveness and new life to ends of the earth 

• And they being by waiting in prayer

• What do we know of what God the Father is doing - making promises, setting time and dates by His own authority, King of the Kingdom

• What do we know of what God the Son is doing? He suffered and died, He rose, He ate with them, He instructed them

• What do we know of what God the Spirit is doing? - how Jesus gave instructions, the promised gift, the oOe who will baptize them, the One who will give the power to accomplish Jesus mission 

• The Holy Spirit will accomplish the mission of Jesus in communion with all people all through the book of Acts

• So they wait for the Holy Spirit 

  • “You will receive power and you will be my witnesses.”

• Where in your life do you need the Holy Spirit to help you be a better display of the character of Jesus? 

• “They believed that ‘heaven’ and ‘earth’ are the two interlocking spheres of God’s reality, and that the risen body of Jesus is the first (and so far the only) object which is fully at home in both and hence in either, anticipating the time when everything will be renewed and joined together. And so, since as T. S. Eliot said, ‘humankind cannot bear very much reality’, the new, overwhelming reality of a heaven-and-earth creature will not just yet live in both dimensions together, but will make itself—himself—at home within the ‘heavenly’ dimension for the moment, until the time comes for heaven and earth to be finally renewed and united.”  – NT Wright

• “That is the point of the event, and its explanation. Jesus is ‘lifted up’, indicating to the disciples not that he was heading out somewhere beyond the moon, beyond Mars, or wherever, but that he was going into ‘God’s space’, God’s dimension. The cloud, as so often in the Bible, is the sign of God’s presence (think of the pillar of cloud and fire as the children of Israel wandered through the desert, or the cloud and smoke that filled the Temple when God became suddenly present in a new way). Jesus has gone into God’s dimension of reality; but he’ll be back on the day when that dimension and our present one are brought together once and for all. That promise hangs in the air over the whole of Christian history from that day to this. That is what we mean by the ‘second coming’.” – NT Wright

• He is our High Priest and He intercedes for us

• We have a praying Savior and We are a praying church 

• Pray for His Kingdom in your life, your family, your neighborhood, city, and world.  

• The way to be good at waiting is to wait and pray.

---

May 14: Groups Guide

About This Guide

The online groups guide is designed as a teaching series companion to foster discussion, study, and prayer, especially in a group setting.

Join a weekly group for a meaningful way to connect to our community.

pdf download

Download this PDF to help you make a plan to follow Jesus in your everyday life, including diagnostic questions to help get you started.

Pickup a print version at our weekly in-person Sunday gatherings.

more Resources

Explore a curated online collection of recommended practices and resources to pursue presence, formation, and love in your life.

Questions about the series or looking for a way to get involved? Contact us.

---

Love

Teaching Text: Matthew 28: 16-20

Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted.Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

---

Themes

Consider these themes and ask your group what else they see in the passage:

• The Great Commission

---

Formation 

Thoughts and notes you can use for discussion:

• In AD 25, nobody outside a small town in Galilee had heard of Jesus

  By AD 50, there were riots in Rome because of Him

  By AD 65, His followers were being persecuted by the Emperor himself

  By AD 300, the known world knew of Jesus and the Emperor claimed a faith in Christ

• Some women went back in the middle of the night when no one else would

• Jesus sent them to tell the 11 remaining disciples

• Jesus then told those disciples to GO

• THIS IS DEEP IN THE HEART OF GOD. This is our mission and purpose as the church and as followers of Jesus

• Courageous women were commissioned to be the first to tell the news that Jesus was alive. They did the job and now these Apostles are about to be commissioned.

• GO and TELL

• For some reason God chose to partner with us to tell of His Kingdom.

• “Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted.” – Matthew 28

• The translation is actually the word “hesitated”

  • “When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted (hesitated).” 

  • I dont think this is “What’s it all about, maybe God isn’t real doubt.”

  • I think this is “OK we are now worshipping this Man who is back from the dead as our God type hesitation.”

• No less human but a different emphasis on the moment.

• This is Israel (the 12 tribes represented - Judas) worshipping their God on the mountain and its JESUS.

• The whole story in some sense has been about worship. What will have your heart and affection and devotion and loyalty and love?

• Anything less than God in the primary place will not do and will warp your soul.

• And now they have the culminating moment….AND THEY WORSHIP THROUGH THE HESITATION 

• And Jesus says “Ok, now give this away. Pass this along…”

• Invite others to know me as FATHER, SON, and HOLY SPIRIT

• SHOW them the way of the Kingdom of God that I have been showing you.

• “Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” – Matthew 28 v 16-20

• What He tells them

  • Go and make disciples of all nations

    • Be intentional to move out into the world looking to invite people into this relational pathway of transformation through love 

    • What’s been done for you, make it available to others - we can start there

    • There is a beautiful diversity here. This is not going to just be people like them 

    • The whole world is included in God’s plan of love and redemption in the Gospel of Jesus 

• How do you make disciples?

  • Baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit 

    • First introduce them and let people be immersed in the love of God

• The Father is Holy and Other but loving and calling us

• The Son has come to show us the way and give His life to bring us in 

• The Spirit applies Jesus’ life, death and resurrection to us and empowers us to live Jesus’ life and ministry 

• The Gospel is FORGIVENESS and UNION

  • Teaching them the Way of Jesus 

    • Matthew has given us 5 blocks of Jesus’ teaching - start with the sermon on the mount. Start with the parables. Start with the travels and miracles of Jesus 

    • Together in commmunity with the Gospels as our guide and the Holy Spirit empowering us we are learning the live the way of Jesus in our time.

• What He promises them

  • Jesus promises His Authority 

  • All authority in heaven and on earth has been give to me SO GO

    • What do you think this authority means? 

    • How did Jesus get this authority? 

    • Why does it matter that he tells them(us) this?

• He does not let us do it by ourselves. 

• His power and presence go with this mission of love

  • His authority and His nearness 

• And throughout the ages, this question and invitation comes through to us

• What are you doing with the influence of your life?

• Are you living with the sense of Jesus’ authority and presence?

• To be a disciple is to make disciples

  • Baptize into the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit 

  • Teach them to obey what I have commanded you 

    • The apologetic of your life

    • The apologetic of community 

    • The apologetic of language

    • We need to learn with Jesus to live beautifully and to talk beautifully - this doesn't mean our lives are perfect or stylized, but they are real and full of God's love 

Reflection:

1. What can you do to invite others to experience God's love and live the Jesus way? 

2. How can you use your influence to share the Gospel? 

3. Share a moment when you felt God's presence while living out the Great commission

---

May 7: Groups Guide

About This Guide

The online groups guide is designed as a teaching series companion to foster discussion, study, and prayer, especially in a group setting.

Join a weekly group for a meaningful way to connect to our community.

pdf download

Download this PDF to help you make a plan to follow Jesus in your everyday life, including diagnostic questions to help get you started.

Pickup a print version at our weekly in-person Sunday gatherings.

more Resources

Explore a curated online collection of recommended practices and resources to pursue presence, formation, and love in your life.

Questions about the series or looking for a way to get involved? Contact us.

---

Love

Teaching Text: Matthew 28: 11-15

While the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, telling them, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day.

---

Themes

Consider these themes and ask your group what else they see in the passage:

• Unbelief → Faith

---

Formation 

Thoughts and notes you can use for discussion:

• Can you imagine having a front row seat for the Resurrection of the Son of God and still missing it?

  • This happens with the guards. 

• What would it take for your to miss the resurrection?

• For these guards, it took keeping their job in the world’s most powerful army, pocketing a huge amount of bribe money, and having their status established and protected 

  • What was the alternative? Try to make sense of a wild experience you had on night guard duty

  • Throw in with some fringe types who were already on the run but who may have a teacher who rose from the dead

• I want us to think about that for a moment

  • Physical needs, status, security - that’s what they trade, a share in the new reality of God breaking into the world for.

• Sin is terribly repetitious - sometimes in America we conceive of the wild rebellious indulgent life as truly free, but the contours of the stories are incredibly repetitive.

• The archetype temptations lead us down the same paths, the same stories, with only slight variations.

  • Sex, money, power

  • Appetite, ambition, approval

  • Consumption, security, status

• The fruit is pleasing to the eye

  Desirable to the body 

  And can make you like god 

• Two versions of life went out from that garden

  • The story of the women who went to embalm their dead friend and instead met him 

  and 

  • The story of the guards who had a lot to lose and got swept up into a pretty shallow cover-up

• Both stories spread.

• Faith does not make things that are not true to become true.

• But faith does allow me access to reality that is not always visible or easy to see. 

• “It cannot be stressed too strongly that first century Jews were not expecting people to rise from the dead as isolated individuals. Resurrection for them was something that might happen for all on that great future occasion when God brought history to an end and a whole new world was renewed. 

  It will not do therefore, to say that Jesus’ disciples were so stunned and shocked by his death, so unable to come to terms with it, that they projected their scattered hopes onto the screen of fantasy and invented the idea of Jesus resurrection as a way of coping with their cruelly broken dream. That has an initial apparent psychological plausibility to 20th century people, but it will not work as serious first century history. 

  There were lots of other messianic and similar movements in the Jewish world, roughly contemporary with Jesus. There were many situations in which a messianic leader died a violent death at the hands of authorities. In not one single case do we see the slightest mention of the disappointed followers claiming that their hero had been raised from the dead. They knew better. 

  In the Jewish worldview an individual could not be resurrected in the middle of history and history just continue going. It was not something that was possible in their worldview. So Jewish revolutionaries whose leaders had been executed by the authorities had only two options, give up the revolution or find another leader. Claiming that your original leader had been resurrected was not an option, unless of course he was.”

  – NT WRIGHT

• These who claimed to have seen Jesus -  before they are cowering in fear, denying they knew Jesus as he was being tried and killed

  • When they are next seen in public they are boldly announcing that Jesus whom you crucified was Messiah and God - not by faith but by sight - that they had seen Him

  • In the next 40 years most of these disciples will be killed for their testimony about Jesus. There difference between faith and being an eye witness

• “I believe those witnesses who get their throats cut”  - Blaise Pascal

• “Don’t be fooled by the idea that modern science has disproved the resurrection of Jesus. Modern science has done no such thing. Everybody in the ancient world, just like everybody in the modern world, knew perfectly well that dead people don’t get resurrected. It didn’t take Copernicus or Newton, or Einstein for that matter, to prove that; just universal observation of universal facts. The Christian belief is not that some people sometimes get raised from the dead, and Jesus happens to be one of them. It is precisely that people don’t ever get raised from the dead, and that something new has happened in and through Jesus which has blown a hole through previous observations. The Christian thus agrees with scientists ancient and modern: yes, dead people don’t rise. But the Christian goes on to say that something new and different has now occurred in the case of Jesus. This isn’t because there was an odd glitch in the cosmos, or something peculiar about Jesus’ biochemistry, but because the God who made the world, and who called Israel to be the bearer of his rescue-operation for the world, was at work in and through Jesus to remake the world. The resurrection was the dramatic launching of this project.” – NT WRIGHT

• But trusting this story is certainly not simply believing in an event two thousand years ago.

  • It is sharing a relationship with this risen Jesus today.

  • If Jesus is risen - it means what happened on the Cross accomplished its purpose 

    • You and I can be forgiven and brought into union with God

  • If Jesus is risen - a new way of being human  has begun 

    • A new type of life is possible…We can share in this resurrection life.

• But the same threats as the guards faced will show up in our story.

  • We have to be practical and make some money 

  • We don’t wanna look like fools 

  • We are worried about our place in the world 

  • We had an experience once but we aren’t sure what to make of it.

• How much would it take for us to trade in resurrection for a nice respectable life and comfortable place to watch TV?

• How much would it take to actually upend our normal way of operating where we are in change and we imagine the story unfolding with us as the center?

• God says he loves you all the way to death and back. There is a place for you in His story. In His renewal of the world.

  • What would we trade it for? What are you trading it for?

• The resurrection of Jesus means all the abundance of His life begins to make sense. The water into wine. The treasure in a field worth selling everything for. The son returning home whom there must be a party for.

  • How many of us are still living with the scarcity mentality of the guards?

  • We have no framework for what this could be and so we fall back into a story we know 

• If Jesus is risen from the dead it changes everything.

---

April 30: Groups Guide

About This Guide

The online groups guide is designed as a teaching series companion to foster discussion, study, and prayer, especially in a group setting.

Join a weekly group for a meaningful way to connect to our community.

pdf download

Download this PDF to help you make a plan to follow Jesus in your everyday life, including diagnostic questions to help get you started.

Pickup a print version at our weekly in-person Sunday gatherings.

more Resources

Explore a curated online collection of recommended practices and resources to pursue presence, formation, and love in your life.

Questions about the series or looking for a way to get involved? Contact us.

---

Love

Teaching Text: John 21: 1-17

Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Galilee. It happened this way: Simon Peter, Thomas (also known as Didymus), Nathanaelfrom Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. “I’m going out to fish,” Simon Peter told them, and they said, “We’ll go with you.” So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.

He called out to them, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?”

“No,” they answered.

He said, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.”When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.

Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, “It is the Lord,” he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water. The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from shore, about a hundred yards. When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread.

Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish you have just caught.” So Simon Peter climbed back into the boat and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even with so many the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” None of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead.

When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?”

“Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”

Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”

He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.”

The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”

Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.

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Themes

Consider these themes and ask your group what else they see in the passage:

• Shame → Love

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Formation 

Thoughts and notes you can use for discussion:

• Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame. – ‭‭Genesis‬ ‭2‬:‭25‬ ‭NIV‬‬

  • “but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.” – ‭‭Genesis‬ ‭2‬:‭17‬ ‭NIV‬‬

  • He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” – ‭‭Genesis‬ ‭3‬:‭10‬ ‭NIV‬‬

  • So Adam was naked and unashamed and now he’s naked and ashamed and he’s afraid because of how vulnerable he feels and he’s hiding.

• So fear and shame enter the human story. And it is attended by other kinds of death that we’ll talk about in this series: despair and scarcity and exhaustion. 

• What is shame?

  • Chip Dodd

• Healthy shame: recognition of dependency/limitation

• Toxic shame: judgment

  • If we are exposed, we will be judged and disposed of 

  • I need therefore I am stupid, bad, worthless

  • Worth is in performance instead of presence

• “The felt sense that I do not have what it takes to tolerate this moment or circumstance. I am not enough, I am bad, I don’t matter, there is something wrong with me” – Curt Thompson, The Soul of Shame

• Types of Shame

  • Shame that originates with us: it’s related to things that we ourselves do or do not do

  • Shame that originates with others: 

  • Those voices from our childhood. Some of us have been really fortunate and those voices have been kind. And others of us have a different experience. Maybe a parent who wasn’t well and the things they said to us became our personal, internal monologue. It might sound very much like your voice, but it’s actually someone else’s

  • Societal expectations

  • Those explicit and implicit messages about your worth or value

  • Shame that originates from lies told by the enemy–the prince of the power of the air

• Shame attempts to separate me from love

  • Adam and eve example

    • “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.” – ‭‭Genesis‬ ‭1‬:‭31‬ ‭NIV

    • “Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.” – Genesis‬ ‭3‬:‭7‬ ‭NIV‬‬

    • So, Adam and Eve are hiding from each other, then God comes and even though they are already covered in fig leaves, they hid from him too.

    • Adam says: He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” – Genesis‬ ‭3‬:‭10‬ ‭NIV

    • There are some tough consequences handed out for everyone involved and then God does something interesting:

    • “The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.” – ‭‭Genesis‬ ‭3‬:‭21‬ ‭NIV‬‬

  • Peter example

    • “When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.” Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.” The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.” – John‬ ‭21‬:‭15‬-‭17‬ ‭NIV‬‬

    • Peter had denied Jesus. He had failed, wasn’t enough for the moment. 

    • Jesus has recreated for Peter all of the details of when he first called him. And for each of Peter’s denials, Jesus gives him the opportunity to re-declare his love. 

• So before we talk more about Peter’s story, I want us to note a couple of things:

  • Everything that is true about you, everything that your Father thinks about you is revealed before you fall. (The Trinity created humankind and God says “this is very good”; Peter’s destiny is revealed before he falls. Andrew brings Peter to Jesus says to him–you are the rock.)

  • God always has a loving response to our failures and to our shame. (God made them Adam and Eve clothes and Jesus is making Peter breakfast)

• Jesus is saying to Peter, I know you’re not perfect, but I’ve already told you who you are. You are the rock—follow me and take care of my flock. 

• Verb – Agapaō v. phileō

• Noun – Agapē v. philadelphia 

• Unconditional love

  Familial affection 

• 1 - Peter, do you agapaō? Lord, I phileō

  2 - Peter, do you agapaō? Lord, I phileō

  3 - Peter, do you phileō? Lord, I phileō

• Shame is still holding Peter back.

• Jesus is actually repeating the question that is in Peter’s heart. Peter’s sitting there next to his dear, dear friend.  Thinking of all the ways he failed him.  He fell asleep while Jesus was asking him to keep watch.  He couldn’t protect him from the soldiers that came to get him. And then the time came for him to fulfill all of those promises of bravely dying with the one he loves and he can’t do it.  Peter is wondering “do you love me” and Jesus is answering “yes” every single time.

• Maybe one of the most significant uses of the agapē form of love is in 1 Peter 4:8 where he says:

  “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.” – 1 Peter‬ ‭4‬:‭8‬ ‭NIV‬‬

• Love covers

  • You don’t have to be ashamed—love will cover you. You don’t have to hide—love will cover you. That’s what Love does. It covers. 

  • The covenant love of God will cover your shame, whether it originated with you or with some other fallen being. Love will cover your shame.

  • In the same way that God sacrificed animals to cover the shame of Adam and Eve in the garden, He sacrificed His son to die on a cross so that one day we can all go back to that garden and be naked and unashamed. Love covers.

• “I see myself as the most miserable of all human beings, stinking and covered in sores, guilty of committing all sorts of crimes against my Monarch. Moved by deep regret, I declare to God all the harm I have caused others. I ask Love’s pardon. Then I give myself to their mercy to do with me as they please. Far from punishing me, this Ruler, full of kindness and mercy, lovingly embraces me, invites me to eat, seats me at Love’s table, waits on me themself, gives me the keys to their treasures, and all in all, treats me like their favorite. My Sovereign talks with me and takes great pleasure in my company in countless ways, without ever mentioning my forgiveness or taking away my old habits. Although I beg Love to make me according to their heart, I always see myself as weaker and more miserable, and yet always more caressed by God. This is what I see from time to time in God’s holy presence.” – Practice of the Presence, Nicolas Herman (monastic name: Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection).

• Can you identify areas in your life where Shame overshadows love? 

  • What actions of your past still bring you shame?

  • What lies that other people have spoken over you still bring shame? 

  • What lies about yourself do you believe where Satan wants to keep you prisoned and paralyzed? 

• We need to constantly replace lies with truth

• We need to constantly remind each other of our true worth

• We need each other to overcome shame with love.

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April 23: Groups Guide

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Love

Teaching Text: Luke 24: 13-35

Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; but they were kept from recognizing him.

He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?”

They stood still, their faces downcast. One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?”

“What things?” he asked.

“About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. The chief priests and our rulershanded him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning but didn’t find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see Jesus.”

He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.

As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going farther. But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them.

When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”

They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.” Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.

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Themes

Consider these themes and ask your group what else they see in the passage:

• Road to Emmaus

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Formation 

Thoughts and notes you can use for discussion:

• A story about hope that seems to have failed. 

• Jesus had died. 

• Nothing is more permanent. More final. We had hoped

• Have you been there before? In the “we had hoped” space. 

  • Something you were longing for?

  • Something you needed to receive from God?

  • Something you were sure would be in your life by this point? 

  • Something you were certain would not happen to you? 

  • Something you thought if I follow Jesus I can count on this and your expectation was not met?

  • Maybe you have even had the horror of watching your hopes and dreams die in front of you. 

• Nothing is more permanent than death. 

• “but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel.”

• They hoped, and they had their hopes dashed. 

• Emmaus was their home. It was also a place of legend. A place of renown. A place where imagination collected about what is possible if God raised up a new leader. A Messiah to drive out Israel’s enemy.

• Judas maccabees, mighty in word and deed. Cleansed the temple.

  • He is able to establish a Jewish kingdom for 100 years.

• Then the Romans come and you are conquered.

  • Send us a leader, this was their culture narrative

• Jesus’ first great act was to cleanse the temple

  • Does all kinds of miracles 

• Then He dies. 

• They had hoped. Now they are walking home.

• Do remember the first tragedy in the Scriptures?

  • It takes place over a meal of recognition 

• In the Garden in Genesis, they go their own way against God, they deceived and tempted and they choose their own way and eat the fruit and they share it and they recognize each other as naked.

• The recognize each other as afraid. As alone in a new way. As insecure. As separate. As exposed.

• They eat and recognize the glimpse of death for the first time. 

• Here we have a reversal. Here they eat and recognize life. They recognize victory. Good news. Life after death. The possibility of reunion. Of a new kind of life. Of the Kingdom of God in a way they couldn’t have imagined it.

• Luke is helping us see the story that holds all stories.

  • “[This story contains a] great deal of what being a Christian, from that day to this, is all about. The slow, sad dismay at the failure of human hopes; the turning to someone who might or might not help; the discovery that in scripture, all unexpected, there lay keys which might unlock the central mysteries and enable us to find the truth; the sudden realization of Jesus himself, present with us, warming our hearts with his truth, showing us himself as bread is broken.” – NT Wright

• Jesus walked with them and showed them how their story fit inside the larger story, inside all the stories.

• This is what Jesus does for you as well. Pulls together the threads and weaves with love a tapestry of meaning and belonging. 

• But this story says God has come to us. Through everything that would keep us apart 

  • Sin - going our own way, seeking to meet the deep needs of our lives out of our own resources.

  • But also empires - places of power and violence that impose a million different stories on us to live out of 

  • A disappointment - all the ways we have felt let down by the world and by God and by our friends and even by ourselves 

  • When we are seen our hopes die in front of our face and been convinced that we know the scope of what is possible in this small place.

• Recognize the Savior as a Friend

  • “The real slave-master, keeping the human race in bondage, is death itself. Earthly tyrants borrow power from death to boost their rule; that’s why crucifixion was such a symbol of Roman authority. Victory over death robs the powers of their main threat. Sin, which means humans rebelling against God and so conspiring with death to deface God’s good creation, is likewise defeated. Jesus has led God’s new people out of slavery, and now invites them to accompany him on the new journey to the promised land. The road to Emmaus is just the beginning. Hearing Jesus’ voice in scripture, knowing him in the breaking of bread, is the way. Welcome to God’s new world.” – NT WRIGHT

• Join the friendship of the burning hearts

  • Where today are you beat down by disappointment?

  • Where today are you carrying questions with no answers?

  • Where has your story lost the plot?

  • Where do you need to recognize the Rescuer is your Friend?

• Bring your pain 

  Bring you questions

  Bring you confusion

  Bring your separation 

  Bring your lack of faith 

• The miracle of Easter is not merely a empty tomb centuries ago, but the presence of the Risen Jesus here with us.

• Ask God to meet with Him. Ask Him to show you where He is at work. 

  Ask Him to show you Himself, history and how your story and the particular moment you are in fits into the larger story.

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