March 10: 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: John 15: 11-17

I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. This is my command: Love each other.

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Themes

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

• Friendship

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Formation 

Thoughts and notes you can use for discussion:

• Think of a childhood friendship. What aspects of that friendship did you particularly enjoy? 

• Who do you most unlikely friend? Why does this friendship surprise you?

Lent: Historically, the season of Lent in the church year is a time of preparation, repentance, and renewal. We remember and mark Jesus’ time of fasting and temptation in the wilderness. We ask God to help remove our sin and anything that has entangled us or is keeping us from experiencing our union with Jesus.

In our text today, Jesus is talking about friendship in one of the most crucial hours in the history of the world.

• God is a relational being - the Trinity 

• The world is a relational world 

• The Kingdom of God moves along relational lines 

• So friendship is one of the most powerful forces in this world 

If we can see an enemy become a friend, it is one of life's great miracles

• It happens to be at the heart of the Gospel. 

What is a friend?

How can we make friends?

How can we keep friends?

• What makes a good friend?  

• Share with your group something that stood out  that a friend did for you.

What a friend is:

• A friend is someone you share with and who shares with you

• That’s what we hear Jesus saying here. You are my friends and not something else like a servant because I am sharing with you.

Friendship and Selfishness. Two of the great defining realities of human experience. It’s wild how often selfishness feels safer, but over time diminishes us.

“Each of us has contact with hundreds of people who never look beyond our surface appearance. We have dealings with hundreds of people who the moment they set eyes on us begin calculating what use we can be to them, what they can get out of us. We meet hundreds of people who take one look at us, make a snap judgment, and then slot us into a necessary category so that they won’t have to deal with us as persons. They treat us as something less than we are: and if we’re in constant association with them, we become less.

And then someone enters our life who isn’t looking for someone to use, is leisurely enough to find out what’s really going on in us, is secure enough not to exploit our weaknesses or attack our strengths, recognizes our inner life and understands the difficulty of living out our inner convictions, confirms what’s deepest within us. A friend.”

– Eugene Peterson

When you stop sharing, friendship will diminish. This can happen in a well established relationship or a brand new one.

When we look at Jesus life.

• We see Enemies, Multitudes (Neighbors), 120 disciples, 12 apostles, and the 3 close friends.

• The difference in a real way was He shared more as the relationships grew in intimacy.

“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 number daily those who were being saved.” 

– ACTS 2 v 42-27

• That word FELLOWSHIP there is a Greek word KOINONIA and it means SHARING.

“It is no small thing to open our hearts and our arms and allow another to enter there, to grant another person the same worth, the same consequence, the same existential gravity that we take for granted in ourselves. The fact is that our natural tendency is to treat people as if they were not “others” at all, but merely aspects of ourselves. We do not experience them as the overwhelming, comprehensive realities we find ourselves to be. Compared with us, they are not quite real. We see them through a haze, the haze of our own all-engulfing self-hood.”

– Mike Mason

How can we make friends?

• Jesus says here to His friends that He made a choice. He chose friendship with these whom He is sharing the meal with

• Friends are discovered and friends are made

• We aren’t joined in Christ by mutual compatibility similar demographics. We are joined by the love and mercy of God revealed to us in Jesus.

• One the most beautiful and needed aspects of church life is we don’t curate who is here. We brought together and we discover friendship. By first sharing the mercy and grace God has given us with each other.

• We don’t begin with the old resume lists for friendships. We, together at the communion table, offer the grace we have received.

• Friendships in Christ are discovered, but they are also MADE, and I think it comes back to sharing.

• When you share time, share honesty, share a love of something, share a sense of humor, share an effort, share suffering even you see bonds strengthen.

• Companionship becomes friendship through intentional sharing. 

C.S. Lewis said it’s hard to find friends if you just want friends. Because friends bond over something shared.

Pursue deep friendship with Christ - Jesus will shape and reshape your heart with grace

• Helps ground your identity 

Go after your loves, passions, and talents. Pursue the things God has made you to love and be good at and care for most

• Your passions may be a clue to your friendships

• We keep showing up to serve together, to create together, to practice together, to enjoy something together

• Pursue God and what God has given you to care about and then…

Pay attention to whom your fellow-travelers are.

• When you see a potential friend

• Take the risk of sharing

• That intentional paying attention and sharing can build and strengthen friendships 

***I HAVE SOME FRIENDS WHO HELP ME WITH THIS***

Friendship has risk

• Someone could move away, or hurt you, or not give as much as your giving to the relationship

• It might cost you time at some achievement or accomplishment 

• It requires investment and some of those are without guarantees

• Some of you have seen a regression in your willingness to pursue friendship in

”To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable.”
– C.S. Lewis

Sometimes People Use the Word Friend When They Mean Something Else

• Internet acquaintance  

• Someone I am networking with to get what I want 

• People I compete with and compare myself to 

• We won’t be able to be friends with everyone even some of our companions and that’s ok

We have lost the art of loving confrontation, confession, and forgiveness 

• Friendship has to be maintained by resolving differences

If we cant confront, confess or forgive - our friendships will be short lived or shallow

If you get close to someone they are going to hurt you.

How can we keep friends?

• We do have to lay down our lives for one another.

• “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

– JOHN 15 v 11-13

• We keep friends by walking in the way of Jesus - the way of forgiveness and mercy and self-giving love.

• But also we keep friends in Christ because we share in His death to share in His resurrection.

What aspects of your friendships do you feel to pay attention to and change?

Where do you withhold sharing more of yourself? 

Are there any friends that you need to share forgiveness with?

Any friends you want to build and share more of your resources asnd even yourself with? 

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March 3: 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: Revelation 21: 1-5

Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City,the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bridebeautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

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Themes

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

•  The Marriage of God and His People

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Formation 

Thoughts and notes you can use for discussion:

• What parts of marriage represents to you the relationship between God and the church? 

Lent: Historically, the season of Lent in the church year is a time of preparation, repentance, and renewal. We remember and mark Jesus’ time of fasting and temptation in the wilderness. We ask God to help remove our sin and anything that has entangled us or is keeping us from experiencing our union with Jesus.

Ancient Jewish weddings 

As we look at Ancient Jewish Weddings: (I should say I am indebted to Ray Van Laan, Marty Solomon (from Bema), Frank Viola, and Bethany Allen (from Bridgetown and 24/7 prayer) for all presenting great work and helpful research on this …)

• Arrangement - How the family makes the choice. We sometimes think of this in only negative terms, but quite often this worked well and was a true communal effort. A way today maybe a teenager with raging hormones could use some guidance - this isn’t just about you. But it’s a negative Disney type myth that the wishes of the kids wouldn’t have been take into consideration. 

• Betrothal  - father would bring a cup and give it to the son. The son would hand this cup filled with wine to his potential bride and he would say, “This is the cup of a new covenant that I make with you today. I will drink of this cup again until I drink it with you in my Fathers house.

  • He hands her the cup. He is saying I will do what most be done. I will prepare a place. I will pay whatever price to make us one.

  • If she takes the cup and drinks from it, it was her way of covenantally sealing the arrangement.

• Preparing a place: groom goes back to father’s dwelling and builds a place for he and his bride.

  • Only the father knows the timing, because he has to approve the work

  • A time where father gets to really see the formation of his son.

• Groom Returns - he returns. The timing was not known. There was an expectation of readiness and preparedness during whole engagement. Remember Jesus’ parable of the ‘bridesmaids.’

• Cleansing - She goes for a big ritual spa day - helped by her bridesamaids and community 

• Shofar is sounded - a trumpet blast to begin the festivities 

• Gather under the Chuppah - symbol of their new home and open doors of hospitality 

• Present the Ketubah - take their vows - Ketubah

  • A covenant of what their marriage will me

  • Saw this this fall on a roof top but industry city. Chuppah whipping in the wind.

• Room Set Aside for the consummation where the best man stands gaurd

  • Produces a bloody cloth (scandalizes us, but our cultures norm of using sex to get to know someone would scandalize them)

• The families Exchange the Dowry - bride price from the cup of the betrothal 

• Party for up to a week - remember when they ran out of wine

• One Year - Honeymoon. Severely reduced communal responsibility. Learn to love each other 

This is also the story of God and His people Israel:

We can trace this same picture through the story of Israel.

• The Arangement

  • Is off the page.

  • On the recesses of eternity past God determined to get bride for His Son

• Betrothal - Genesis 12 -15

  • God tells Abram leave your father's home and come to a place I will prepare for you.

  • They ratify this covenant by walking the blood path

  • He becomes Abraham 

• Time in Egypt – Waiting. Where is the Groom to be found? They are oppressed. Crying Out.

• Arrival of the Bridegroom – Passover 

• God tells Moses to Consecrate Israel – prepare them

• A SPECIAL TREASURE TO ME

  • Wedding talk in the Hebrew 

  • Later in Exodus 19 is the SHOFAR - the sound of the Trumpet 

• They gather Under the Chuppah - the cloud at Mt. Sinai. Camped against the mountain.

• God presents the Ketubah - the Ten Commandments.

  • Here is how we thrive.

• Tabernacle is going to serve as the Honeymoon suite and the Law is Gods gifts to them. 

  • It makes it all the more tragic that when Moses is up on Mt. Sinai and the people become unfaithful and we have the Golden Calf incident. 

  • This is like a bride being unfaithful in the middle of the wedding ceremony.

• But God continues to move in covenant love. There are places like Ezekiel 16 that describe God’s heartbreak at this unfaithfulness.

  • But the picture is there over and over.

• The marriage of God and His people.

And then when Jesus arrives and on the eve of his betrayal and death. He says….

 “My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.” 

– John 14 v 2-4

Look at this detail Matthews account gives us…

“Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.” 

 – Matthew 26 v 27-29

“For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”  This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church”

– Ephesians 5 v 31-32

How do we live as the Bride of Christ?

Why are we talking about this in Lent?

• Lent a time for us to examine our lives in light of Christ.

• We often think of only personal devotion. 

• But what about our relationships?

How are we living in our marriages? How are we living in our singleness? As the Bride of Christ?

As men, as women? Are we faithful to Christ and faithful to one another?

Are we living with what the Apostle Paul calls a sincere and pure devotion?

“When somebody belongs to the Messiah, they continue with their life on earth, but they have a secret life as well, a fresh gift from God, which becomes part of the hidden reality that will be ‘revealed’ at the last day. That is why, in those great scenes in Revelation there is a great, uncountable number of people standing around God’s throne in heaven, singing glad songs and shouting out their praises. This is the heavenly reality which corresponds to the (apparently) weak, feeble praises of the church on earth. And one day this heavenly reality will be revealed, revealed as the true partner of the lamb, now transformed, Cinderella-like, from slave-girl to bride.”

– NT WRIGHT

Enjoy Communion - there is clearly some ALREADY and NOT YET in the reality of God and his people.

Make Ourselves Ready 

• Let Christ wash us with water and with the Word

  • “Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless”

    – Ephesians 5:25-27

• Consecrate ourselves

  • Where have we given ourselves to other gods, to other loves?

  • What else has your primary devotion, attention and affection?

Long for His Appearing - think about where we are the story

Bethany Allen - pastor and elder at Bridgetown in Portland about the bride:

• A term distinguished from wife—emphasizes being the center of one’s affection and love

• Intrinsically tethered to a counterpart: the groom and the groom brings these aspects of pursuit, promise, patience

• An anticipatory term connects to something that is about to happen or has just happened

• “At the core of a bride’s greatest and most defining act is waiting. This waiting has the power either to define her or to diminish her.” 

Waiting can either:

• Builds appetite v dulls senses

• Deepens love v. inflates fragility

• Reveals our deepest hope or illuminates our fears

“Singleness points us beyond earthly marriage (and earthly sex). And bears witness to a life beyond this one—to a heavenly life. It exhibits a high invitation to give oneself to God, who enables us to give oneself to others. Singles can offer a divine state of existence from which marrieds have a lot to learn.”

– Abbie Smith

If you are married in this church you have a chance to show us something of the faithfulness and delight of Christ.

• Let your marriage reflect the love of Jesus and His covenant love 

• Work on and protect your talking and listening 

• Make a covenant with your eyes - not to look on another 

• Remember what your marriage represents

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February 25: 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: Luke 10 :25-37

On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

“What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”

He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

“You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”

But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’

“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”

The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”

Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

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Themes

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

•  The Good Samaritan

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Formation 

Thoughts and notes you can use for discussion:

If your apartment is in the middle, how many of your neighbors do you know?

Lent: Historically, the season of Lent in the church year is a time of preparation, repentance, and renewal. We remember and mark Jesus’ time of fasting and temptation in the wilderness. We ask God to help remove our sin and anything that has entangled us or is keeping us from experiencing our union with Jesus.

Here are lent resources: https://trinitygracechurch.com/lent

Read the text and share what stands out to you about the encounter. 

In this text… A really important question:

What must I do to inherit eternal life?

The temporal state of our current context

Many of us are not thinking about Eternity. We are thinking about:

• How to get through today

• How to get through this week

• Our minds are caught up in a trend we won’t be able to remember this time next year
  
  

“On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. ‘Teacher,’ he asked, ‘what must I do to inherit eternal life?’”

Luke is letting us know that this man is not just curious. He isn’t simply wanting to learn. He is testing Jesus. And he does so with a famous question of his time.

”He answered, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” 

”To inherit eternal life, all he must do is to consistently practice unqualified love for God and his neighbor.” – Kenneth Bailey

It’s a huge question,  its the right answer and none of us can execute this perfectly. 

THE priest and the Levite - this should have been good news for our wounded Jewish traveler. 

Yet, both of them avoid this man. 

What do our needy neighbors think of our presence? 

• The man is naked and might be dead. If they are on their way to serve in the temple, they cannot come in contact with a dead body and being naked they cannot tell if this man is Jewish. So they aren’t sure what their obligation is to him 

• Basically they have really good reasons from experience why they cant help. And their reasons are connected to good religious conviction.

How easily do you find very legitimate, reasonable, and logical reasons not to show love to the most difficult/risky people to love?

• And everyone hearing the story knows who the next person was going to be. The parable has a set rabbinic formula.

• The priest, the Levite, the Jewish laymen. Jesus is going to make the hero a Jewish laymen.

• But then he doesn’t. He introduces the hated enemy - the Samaritan.

  There is so much risk and cost in what the Samaritan does. 

What do our needy neighbors think of our presence? 

What does the Samaritan do? 

• He saw him

• He had compassion

• He acted on his compassion and went to him

• He used his own oil and wine

• He went on a the dangers road on foot

• He brought him to safety

• He paid a high cost for his needs to be met

“Go and do likewise”

”Salvation is not some felicitous state to which we can lift ourselves by our own bootstraps after the contemplation of sufficiently good examples. It is an utterly new creation into which we are brought by our death in Jesus' death and our resurrection in his. It comes not out of our own efforts, however well-inspired or successfully pursued, but out of the shipwreck of all human effort whatsoever.”

– Robert Farrar Capon

American evangelicalism has shown us you can have a ornate systems of personal devotion, prayers, Bible readings, conferences, and NOT LOVE your neighbor.

We often measure our spiritual well-being in personal devotional terms but God keeps putting the emphasis on how we love.

• You cannot reach eternal life without the rescuing love of Jesus, and that is all

• Once changed by that love, we learn to love our neighbor who includes our enemy.

• The world is not moved by people who love the other people who like them and are like them.

  • The Kingdom of God looks like loving your enemy. At its heart is a man dying for his enemies 

Jesus is interested in how you love your neighbors, because how we love our neighbor is how we love Him. 

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February 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 Text: Matthew 25: 31-41

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

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Themes

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

• Sheep and goats

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Formation 

Thoughts and notes you can use for discussion:

• How do we measure fruitfulness in our spirituality?

• What makes people seem more spiritually mature?

Lent: Historically, the season of Lent in the church year is a time of preparation, repentance, and renewal. We remember and mark Jesus’ time of fasting and temptation in the wilderness. We ask God to help remove our sin and anything that has entangled us or is keeping us from experiencing our union with Jesus.

Here are lent resources: https://trinitygracechurch.com/lent

In this text, we see:

• Do not be apathetic about the time

• You will be held accountable for what you have been given

• The measurement is how you treat your neighbor - how you love those in need

Criteria for righteousness:

“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?”

– Matthew 25 v 37-39

Shocking Detail #1: The Righteous Don't Know They are Righteous

• This was contrary to what the Pharisees were saying equates to righteousness.

• “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’”
  – Matthew 25 v 37-39

  • What do current religious norms describe as characteristics of righteousness?
    

Shocking Detail #2: The King (The Son of Man) so identifies with these people in need that he says a kindness done to them is a kindness done to them.

• “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’”
  – Matthew 25 v 40

Shocking Detail #3: The Consequences of Not Caring for Those in Need is Extremely Drastic

• It was the same as denying, ignoring, and withholding help from Jesus

• The eternal fire is not prepared for people, but pride and lack of love makes it there place

• We have to wonder is this passage saying something different than many other parts of the New Testament?

• DEPART FROM ME - there is an echo of a phrase that isnt here but is in the chapter and several other places I NEVER KNEW YOU

• The hinge point is their sacrificial love and their pride or humility

THE DANGER FOR US

HOW TO BE A THEOLOGICALLY ACCURATE CHRISTIAN PHARISEE

• Using the atonement of Jesus to let myself off the hook for living a comfortable American life where I ignore my neighbor

• This is so close to what the Pharisees of Jesus day did with the Law of Moses

• We are covered by God's covenant so we worry about keeping ourselves clean and we despise others

IMPLICATIONS OF THIS STORY - prophetic picture

• Knowing Jesus must lead to loving like Jesus and loving Jesus through our neighbors

“It may be possible for each to think too much of his own potential glory hereafter; it is hardly possible for him to think too often or too deeply about that of his neighbour. The load, or weight, or burden of my neighbour’s glory should be laid daily on my back, a load so heavy that only humility can carry it, and the backs of the proud will be broken.”

– C.S. LEWIS

“There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilization—these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit—immortal horrors or everlasting splendours. This does not mean that we are to be perpetually solemn. We must play. But our merriment must be of that kind (and it is, in fact, the merriest kind) which exists between people who have, from the outset, taken each other seriously—no flippancy, no superiority, no presumption. And our charity must be a real and costly love, with deep feeling for the sins in spite of which we love the sinner—no mere tolerance or indulgence which parodies love as flippancy parodies merriment. Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbour is the holiest object presented to your senses.”

– C.S. LEWIS

Loving our neighbors is a primary way God has asked us to Love him.

“God identifies with our neighbor just so we can do for the neighbor what we cannot do for God, which is to love another with complete and total generosity. Moreover, it is precisely this recognition of how freely and generously we have been loved by God that inspires our free and generous love of neighbor.”

– Frederick Bauerschmidt

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January 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: Genesis 1: 16-31

God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.

And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.” So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day.

And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds:the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds.And God saw that it was good.

Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

So God created mankind in his own image,
    in the image of God he created them;
    male and female he created them.

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.”

Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.

God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.

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Themes

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

• Vocation

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Formation 

Thoughts and notes you can use for discussion:

• Which of these do you resonate with? 

  Purpose of your vocation:

  • To provide resources for living 

  • To serve a larger personal purpose

  • To serve the world we live in

  • To have fun

  • To bolster personal identity

  • Any others…??

• Epiphany: Moment of great revelation. Particularly, as it relates to the church calendar, it is a realization of what life is like in light of the appearance of Jesus. 

• “The word vocation is a rich one, having to address the wholeness of life, the range of relationships and responsibilities. Work, yes, but also families, and neighbors, and citizenship, locally and globally—all of this and more is seen as vocation, that to which I am called as a human being, living my life before the face of God. It is never the same word as occupation, just as calling is never the same word as career. Sometimes, by grace, the words and the realities they represent do overlap, even significantly; sometimes, in the incompleteness of life in a fallen world, there is not much overlap at all.” – Steven Garber

• God, in creation, brings order out of chaos.

• The order is still abundant (TEEMING) - order doesn’t mean boring or stale, but there is thriving in FULL life 

• “God’s creative act brings forth not carefully regimented sets of creatures, but “swarms” of them…Anyone who has been near a swarm of honeybees, gone scuba diving among schools of fish or seen a wheeling flock of sparrows over a grain field at sunset knows how awesomely unpredictable a swarm can be. Other translations use the word teeming…another word for incalculable and inestimable abundance. The Creator is not seeking a world full of pets, individually domesticated animals bred to be attentive to their human masters. He delights in wildness. Swarming and teeming are part of what make the world good - the overflow and excess of life. All of this actually gives greater glory to God, who has breathed into existence the vast spaces of earth, sky and sea where these creatures can teem, than would a meticulously tended back yard. The Creator loves teeming.”  – ANDY CROUCH

• “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.”  – GENESIS 1

• God invites our participation in abundance and order creation 

• But the function is to join in the WORK of the world - THE VOCATION.

• Being made in the image of God means joining in with…. In making good of the world:

  ADAM and EVE were given good work to do, and this wasn’t just because sin came into the world 

  • Cultivation 

  • Exploration 

  • Bringing Order- naming the animals 

  • Some aspects of ruling or dominion 

• Doing meaningful things was part of creation before the fall

• “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

• Tim Mackie from The Bible Project summarizes this as…

  “To oversee creation as God's partners and representatives in the world"

• The categories in Genesis still work: 

  RULE - FILL - WORK - PRESERVE

• We are called to…

  JOIN WITH GOOD IN THE WORLD 

  TO PUSH BACK DARKNESS 

  TO BRING ORDER TO CHAOS

• “All day, every day, there are both the wounds and wonders at the very heart of life, if we have eyes to see. And seeing  - learning to know, to pay attention - is where vocations begin.” – Steven Garber

• Pay attention to God

  Pay attention to your Life

  Pay Attention to Your Community 

  • Pay attention to God - PRAYER

  • Pay attention to your Life - PRAYER, SILENCE, REFLECTION, THOUGHT, LEARNING, DEVELOPMENT - you are made in God’s image. 

  • Pay Attention to Your Community - Choose relationship, choose love

• RELATIONSHIP - REVELATION - RESPONSIBILITY

  • ARE THERE THINGS GOD HAS INVITED YOU TO CARE ABOUT?

  • IS THEIR DARKNESS YOU CAN PUSH BACK?

  • IS THEIR ORDER YOU CAN BRING TO CHAOS?

  • WHAT ARE YOU GIFTED WITH?

  • WHAT ARE YOU PASSIONATE ABOUT?

  • WHAT CAN YOU ENDURE IN THAT PERHAPS HAN OTHERS?

  • WHERE CAN YOU FIGHT EVIL WITH THE WEAPONS OF THE SPIRIT?

    • HOW DO YOU UNDERSTAND YOUR LIFE MISSION?

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January 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: John 15: 1-5

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 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. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 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.

“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.

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Themes

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

• The Mystery of intimacy and fruitfulness

---

Formation 

Thoughts and notes you can use for discussion:

• What are you most excited about for 2024?

• Where can I trust you more this year?

• One relationship I want to work on specifically this year is:

• Epiphany: Moment of great revelation. Particularly, as it relates to the church calendar, it is a realization of what life is like in light of the appearance of Jesus. 

• Genesis 12 Abraham has a significant moment. Mark sayers says of this moment:

  “I like to imagine Abraham, looking every bit the madman, staring out into the frightening void of the dark desert. Feeling a pull, a powerful tow toward a nameless, unseen God. Behind him, all the might of the city, the walls of the grain storehouses. From the towering pyramid shaped temple he can hear the drums, screams, and pagan chanting. In his gut, the doubt, the conflicting emotions, the fear that everything he has believed until now is wrong. The city represented safety, comfort, the known. In front of him, the desert representing death, darkness, mystery, and the unknown. Then the resolution, the determination, the trust, followed by the first step, away from the city, away from Ur. The first step of faith into the unknown, into the arms of God.” – MARK SAYERS

• Into the arms of God. The work of building a nation that will bless the world and bend the story towards redemption begins with conversation, friendship, the beginning of intimacy.

• David Was king over Israel and known for his intimacy with God. 

  We have so many amazing Psalms displaying this.

• The golden age King, whom all others would be compared to, was shaped and sustained by prayer.

• All these stories remind us that life is best lived beginning at Jesus’ feet. 

• Jesus’ example:

  At many points with people clamoring to life him up He slips away to pray.

  Those who saw him teach and work miracles and resist evil and show incredible courage in the face of power ASKED HIM TEACH US TO PRAY.

• Prayer: Talking and Listening to God. Then acting on those conversations. This is way we see over and over through the whole story.

• This happens in community, but we are not told to draft off others so much that we don’t have our own talking and listening to God. We are not called to a merely second hand faith. We must take up this invitation of friendship.

• On the fateful night before he was betrayed. He had to get them to see some things that would be essential in their lives and His Kingdom….

  “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.  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.  You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.  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. 

  “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.”

  John 5 v 1-5

• Remain. Abide. Make a life in Christ’s love. Talk and listen.

  Jesus is the fulfillment of all the promise and he makes it as clear as can be.

• Intimacy leads to Fruitfulness

  Friendship invites Participation

• How would you describe your talking and listening relationship with God?

• The Relationship is the Reward

  What the poet King of Israel knew centuries ago. A man who had a Kingdom…

  He said THE LORD IS MY PORTION. 

  YOU FILL ME WITH JOY IN YOUR PRESENCE

• What ways can I take steps forward in talking and listening to Jesus? 

• Ways to join: 

  • Talk and listen to God every day

  • Wednesday Nights at the Office - 7:30pm

  • Pre-Service Prayer

  • Sunday Ministry Time 

  • Dedicated Prayer Times in Every Small Group

  • Groups taking retreats to pray together 

  • Resources and Teaching to Grow your personal prayer life - SECONDS COURSE

  • A Week of Unbroken Prayer May 13 - May 19 before Pentecost

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January 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 2: 1-12

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magifrom the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”

When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:

“‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
    are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
    who will shepherd my people Israel.’”

Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”

After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was.When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

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Themes

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

• Magi visits Jesus

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Formation 

Thoughts and notes you can use for discussion:

• What are you most excited about for 2024?

• Where can I trust you more this year?

• One relationship I want to work on specifically this year is:

  Epiphany: Moment of great revelation. Particularly, as it relates to the church calendar, it is a realization of what life is like in light of the appearance of Jesus. 

  The Magi show us worship as:

• An Ongoing Pursuit 

• Honoring with Presence 

• Offering Gifts

• Gold (a gift for a King) Frankincense (priestly worship offering) and Myrrh (an honoring fragrance with a prophetic edge to Jesus burial) 

• What is the impression you had of the Magi growing up?

  These Magi are very unexpected additions to this Jewish story. Israel’s Messiah. And here come these - sorcerer, magicians, soothsayers, star gazers from old Babylon. Persia.

  ​​The Magi

• An Ancient Priesthood of the Medes

• The Supreme Priestly Caste of the Persian Empire - grown up from old Babylon

• Prophet Daniel was given the Title of Chief Magi by  King Darius

• Matthew is letting his Jewish readers know right away that this Jesus’ impact will go beyond anything they could have imagined.

• You and I worship something. Look at what has your affection, devotion, attention, delight, your gifts 

• “Because here's something else that's true. In the day-to-day trenches of adult life, there is actually no such thing as atheism. There is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship. And an outstanding reason for choosing some sort of God or spiritual-type thing to worship… -is that pretty much anything else you worship will eat you alive. If you worship money and things-if they are where you tap real meaning in life-then you will never have enough. Never feel you have enough. It's the truth. Worship your own body and beauty and sexual allure and you will always feel ugly, and when time and age start showing, you will die a million deaths before they finally plant you. On one level, we all know this stuff already-it's been codified as myths, proverbs, clichés, bromides, epigrams, parables: the skeleton of every great story. The trick is keeping the truth up-front in daily consciousness. Worship power-you will feel weak and afraid, and you will need ever more power over others to keep the fear at bay. Worship your intellect, being seen as smart-you will end up feeling stupid, a fraud, always on the verge of being found out. And so on.”

  – DAVID FOSTER WALLACE

• HOW SHOULD WE LIVE IN LIGHT OF THIS JESUS BEING BORN?

  • Seek His Face 

  • Honor God with Your Presence 

  • Offer Your Gifts

• How could you endeavor to seek Gods face this year? 

• What Gifts is God asking you to use in his Kingdom’s advace? 

• This is really important to realize in our current context of immediacy: 

  • Your story has more than you can see - God is the storyteller

  • Your obedience can radiate out to generations

  • Prayer sustains the life of creative minority in God's Kingdom (see Daniel and Elijah)  

• We often measure our current moment only by immediate results

  • This undermines patience, perseverance, and faithfulness

• How you live today, in light of eternity, will impact generations ahead that you cannot imagine right now. 

• The way to connect our now with eternity is to remain connected to God in prayer. 

• What everyday, un-sensational things are you tempted to neglect, but know they have a compounding effect of your history and generations to come? 

• Here are some basic commitments that make a big difference: 

• How can you commit to pray for God’s kingdom in your life, NYC, and the world with us? 

• What smaller group participation could help you grow in community? 

• What Gifts can you bring in worship to God this year?

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December 10: 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: Isaiah‬ ‭9‬:‭ 1-7

Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the nations, by the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan—

The people walking in darkness
    have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of deep darkness
    a light has dawned.
You have enlarged the nation
    and increased their joy;
they rejoice before you
    as people rejoice at the harvest,
as warriors rejoice
    when dividing the plunder.
For as in the day of Midian’s defeat,
    you have shattered
the yoke that burdens them,
    the bar across their shoulders,
    the rod of their oppressor.
Every warrior’s boot used in battle
    and every garment rolled in blood
will be destined for burning,
    will be fuel for the fire.
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.

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Themes

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

• Peace

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Formation 

Thoughts and notes you can use for discussion:

• ADVENT: Arrival

  Often regarding the arrival of a moment or a person. 

  In the church calendar, it refers to the arrival of Jesus. 

  Advent season is the season of waiting for the arrival of our Savior.  

• Advent is a season where we look at the darkness of the world, maybe even the darkness of our present lives or circumstances in the face and say HOPE IS STILL A PRESENT REALITY. 

• Peace: SHALOM - not just the absence of conflict but the presence of well-being and thriving.

  • How would others describe you if they were to say if you are a glass-half-full or half-empty person?

  • Do you think their perceptions are accurate? 

• Isaiah in this text, offers a prophetic poem into the tension of the day…

• And he sets it up by saying, you know the places that have already fallen, our neighbors who the Assyrians have already gobbled up. EVEN THEIR GOD’S STORY IS NOT FINISHED.

• In fact, they will be some of the first places to see God’s intervention and redemption

• “Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the nations by the Way of the Sea beyond the Jordan” – Isaiah 9 v 1

• The prophet is giving them another way to see a story they think they know….

• Isaiah’s words to the people in this desperate time takes them back to moments in the past, it takes them forward to moments in the future and reminds them that what they see surrounding them is not everything….

• Alec Moyer, the revered Isaiah scholar, helps us…

  “As always, the people of God must decide what reading of their experiences they will live by. Are they to look at the darkness, the hopelessness, the dreams shattered and conclude that God has forgotten them? Or are they to recall his past mercies, to remember his present promises, and to make great affirmations of faith? 

  [The prophet] insists that hope is a present reality, part of the constitution of the ‘now’. The darkness is true but it is not the whole truth and certainly not the fundamental truth.”

  – J. Alec Motyer

• And so Isaiah is an advent prophet.

• HOPE - It is part of the constitution of NOW. The darkness is true, but it is not the whole truth and certainly not the fundamental truth.

• We might be in one particular valley or one particular mountain top but the prophet is helping us to see the whole range, the peaks stretching behind us and out in front of us, so we do not give in to the TYRANNY OF OUR PRESENT MOMENT, or THE URGENCY OF OUR PRESENT MOOD.

  • What do you do when experiencing the tyranny of the present mood? 

  • Are you able to see a reality beyond what you feel? 

  • On a scale from 0-10 how much do your current feelings dictate your life? 

• In This text we see 

  • PEACE IS A PERSON

  • THIS PERSON CAN BE KNOWN IN FULLNESS BY NAME

  • SHALOM IS A PASSION FOR GOD

• Isaiah gives them a poem about a baby on the eve of the battle to shake them awake

• What you're longing for cannot be accomplished this way. SOMETHING NEW MUST BE BORN IN THE WORLD

• PEACE is a person. 

  • It is not just an idea or a state of being. A person who has faced death and come back carries peace and offers into all of us in love 

• “For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.”  – Colossians 1 v 19-20

• LEARN THE NAMES OF GOD - WE CAN KNOW MESSIAH IN THIS FULLNESS

  • Wonderful Counselor - a God who can give us supernatural wisdom in our real life

  • Mighty God  - who is strong enough to keep promises even if they don’t track exactly long the lines of our expectations, moods, or circumstances

  • Everlasting Father - who loves us in the gracious covenant way of family and holds us in tender care

  • Prince of Peace - and who can make true of us what is true of him. Who can bring our lives and the world to Shalom.

• How do you find your practice of unburdening your heart to God? 

• Are you comfortable asking God to be powerful in areas where you are not able to effect change? 

• How convinced are you of the idea that God is always loving and will not change or let you down? 

• Do you believe God can settle areas of conflict where you have not been able to? 

• “Shalom is one of the richest words in the Bible. You can no more define it by looking up its meaning in the dictionary than you can define a person by his or her social security number. It gathers all aspects of wholeness that result from God’s will being completed in us. It is the work of God then that, when complete, releases streams of living water in us and pulsates with eternal life. Every time Jesus healed, forgave or called someone, we have a demonstration of shalom.” – Eugene Peterson

• Which aspect of the character of God and his names do you want him to show you? 

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December 3: 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 Texts: Isaiah‬ ‭9‬:‭2

The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.

John‬ ‭1‬:‭4‬-‭5

In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

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Themes

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

• Hope

---

Formation 

Thoughts and notes you can use for discussion:

• ADVENT: Arrival

  • Often regarding the arrival of a moment or a person. 

  • In the church calendar it refers to the arrival of Jesus. 

  • Advent season is the season of waiting for the arrival of our Savior.  

• Hope 

  • Baker's Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Hope: To trust in, wait for, look for, or desire something or someone; or to expect something beneficial in the future. 

• It is often said that the most repeated command in scripture is to not fear - a close second would be “remember”

• So much of Jewish scripture, especially the Psalms, is them reminding each other of the things that God has done and of the character of God. Psalm 136 retells the story of the Exodus and has the repeated refrain “His mercy endures forever”

• The feasts of the Jewish calendar were set for the purpose of remembering. 

• The story that we are invited to sit in and give remembrance to every Advent starts in a world where God is or at least appears to be silent.

• Starting our year in darkness, helps us to remember that the darkness comes before the light.  We get to remember not just the bright shiny moments of triumph but also the darkness that preceded those moments. 

• And it’s a helpful rhythm, because ultimately we are a people defined by waiting.  More than victories, more than triumphs, we are a people that waits in those in between spaces. 

• For the people of God, there’s a lot of waiting.

  • And then there’s us, the church, the bride of Christ.  We are waiting for our Bridegroom, for Jesus to return just as He said He would and for His Kingdom to come in its fullness.

• The relationship/intimacy between the bride and bridegroom:

  • “At its core lives hope: the anticipation of coming good based on the character or nature of another”

  • “At the core of a bride’s greatest and most defining act is waiting. This waiting has the power either to define her or to diminish her.” 

• As followers of Christ, we feel this intensely: the reality of a kingdom that has come, but is also coming.  Of a King and Savior who has come and is also coming. And we’re not just waiting for the world to become good and beautiful and kind, but waiting for ourselves to become good and beautiful and kind.

• Excerpt from TIRED by Langston Hughes

  • I am so tired of waiting,

    Aren’t you,

    For the world to become good

    And beautiful and kind?

• Fortunately for us, this hope is not dependent on our faithfulness, but is completely reliant on God’s.

• We can expect GOOD because of God’s ability to fulfill His promises

• In which areas of your life is hope running low right now? 

• But the waiting can become difficult.

• Waiting can either:

  • Builds appetite v. dulls senses

  • Deepens love v. inflates fragility

  • Reveals our deepest hope or illuminates our fears

• “How we wait and what we do with it, where we set our gaze and our hope in it will determine the type of intimacy and goodness we know as we wait.”

• It matters how you wait.

  • How do you respond in seasons where you are required to wait? 

  • What do you do in those seasons?

  • How do you feel in those seasons? 

  • How is your faith affected by waiting? 

• “And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” – Romans‬ ‭5‬:‭5‬ ‭NIV

• And our advent hope is that on the other side of death is life.  You will feel like you are passing through the valley of the shadow of death, but our good shepherd who walks with us through the valley promises to transform it into a door of hope. He chooses to live inside of us by the Holy Spirit so that we can be formed more and more into his image and likeness until there is an unmistakable family resemblance. 

• Because of Jesus and by the Spirit, we also have become light:

  • “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light.” – ‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭5‬:‭8‬ ‭NIV‬‬

• How do we wait with hope?

  • Hope is a discipline 

• Keep telling the story

• Gather

• Remember God’s character and goodness

• Fix your eyes on Him 

• Be honest in prayer 

• Pray for the coming kingdom and the coming King

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November 26: 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.

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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 16:29 - 17:5

Then Jesus’ disciples said, “Now you are speaking clearly and without figures of speech. Now we can see that you know all things and that you do not even need to have anyone ask you questions. This makes us believe that you came from God.”

“Do you now believe?” Jesus replied. “A time is coming and in fact has come when you will be scattered, each to your own home. You will leave me all alone.Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me.

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed:

“Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal lifeto all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life: that they know you,the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.

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Themes

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

• Joy Complete – God wants your joy to be complete and Jesus is showing us the way.

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Formation 

Thoughts and notes you can use for discussion:

• One of life's biggest questions - If God exists, what is God like?

• Sometimes is easier to believe God exists than to believe He is kind

• Dominant narrative of our time: Consumeristic, technologically driven individualism. 

  Creation narrative: God miraculously and lovingly creates and sustains

• When we immerse ourselves in the dominant narrative, we forget the creation story 

  • Then, a series of things happen: 

    • 1 - We forgo rootedness of the past – we self-invent 

    • 2 - We forgo hope in a faithful God for our future – self-rely 

    • 3 - Our present is filled with FRIGHTENED MEANNESS. 

• Where in your daily life do you experience this drive towards self invention/defining identity?

  Where do you see the encouragement and temptation towards self relying/self preserving? 

• Brueggeman: 

  “For it is only when the past is brimming with miracle and the future is inundated with fidelity that the present can be recharacterized as a place of neighborliness in which

  • Scarcity can be displaced by generosity

  • Anxiety can be displaced by confidence

  • Greed can be displaced by sharing

  • Brutality can be displaced by compassion and forgiveness.

  “Recovering the biblical text includes the daring persuasive conviction that God’s fidelity outlasts every circumstance.”

• The story you live in, is the story you live out

• How can we better immerse ourselves in the creation narrative? 

• What God is like is the catalyzing question of this whole conversation. 

  • “May they know you” is Jesus’ prayer at the end. 

• This text is less about a to-do list and more about how we can know God deeply. 

• Challenges in the conflicting narratives:

  • The dominant cultural narrative might be more prevalent in our lives than the true creation narrative 

  • We are trying to trust Jesus for that joy, but we reserve the right to define still what makes us happy.

  • We are not able to discern the timing and the perseverance required

• Which of these challenges do you struggle with most?

• Where in your life do you struggle with a lack of peace and joy? 

• Take some time to scan through chapter 14-16 of John 

  • Notice one or two things that Jesus says that reveal something about the Father that He wants the disciples to know. 

  • Share them with the group. 

  • Pray prayers of thanks and praise to God for who He is. 

• God’s Peace comes from a deep conviction that

  • My future is not in my hands

  • My God is kind and trustworthy and wants my true and lasting joy 

  • No obstacles I face here and now will have the last word

  • Jesus completed the work to restore the kingdom and invited us in

  • He leaves us with His very presence, the Spirit by whom we have access to the Father. 

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