40 Days with Luke: The Bleeding Woman

During the Season of Lent we encourage your Faith Formation Groups to join together in following the 40 Days of Luke Bible Study. When you gather, share your insights with the group from the weeks study. If you have not already done so, there is still time to sign up. 

We also encourage you to continue to take time to open yourselves up as a group and dialog on the following Wesley Challenge question:  Do I grumble or complain constantly? (Pages 71-74 in The Wesley Challenge)

40 Days of Luke: Carrying the Mat

During the Season of Lent we encourage your Faith Formation Groups to join together in following the 40 Days of Luke Bible Study. When you gather, share your insights with the group from the weeks study. If you have not already done so, there is still time to sign up. 

We also encourage you to continue to take time to open yourselves up as a group and dialog on the following Wesley Challenge question:  Do I go to bed on time and get up on time? (Pages 67-70 in The Wesley Challenge)

40 Days of Luke

Introduction

During the Season of Lent we encourage your Faith Formation Groups to join together in following the 40 Days of Luke Bible Study. When you gather, share your insights with the group from the weeks study. If you have not already done so, there is still time to sign up. 

We also encourage you to continue to take time to open yourselves up as a group and dialog on the following Wesley Challenge question:  Do I insist upon doing something about which my conscience is uneasy? (Pages 29-33 in The Wesley Challenge)

Pulpit Swap Sunday!

Justice Will Prevail

This week, I am excited to be at the Summerhill Campus. I will miss everyone at Lake Deaton, but I know you will be blessed with a great message from Pastor Harold. As you meet with your Faith Formation Group this week I encourage you to spend some time reflecting on how your year has started and share where you see God is working within your lives.  

I also encourage you to take time to open yourselves up as a group and dialog on the following Wesley Challenge question:  Do I go to bed on time and get up on time? (Pages 67-70 in The Wesley Challenge)

Love Is Series: Week Five

Not Rude or Irritable 

This week, while you meet with your Faith Formation Group you may want to reflect on our Scripture passage by reading Mark 2:13-17 (printed below) and discuss the questions from the Scripture and Sermon as a way to begin a conversation. 

Mark 2:13-17

Mark 2:13    Then Jesus went out to the lakeshore again and taught the crowds that were coming to him. ¹⁴ As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at his tax collector’s booth. “Follow me and be my disciple,” Jesus said to him. So Levi got up and followed him.

Mark 2:15    Later, Levi invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as dinner guests, along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners. (There were many people of this kind among Jesus’ followers.) ¹⁶ But when the teachers of religious law who were Pharisees saw him eating with tax collectors and other sinners, they asked his disciples, “Why does he eat with such scum?”

Mark 2:17    When Jesus heard this, he told them, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do. I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.”

Questions for Consideration:

1. After reading the story, take turns sharing what sticks out to you as important or significant.
2. Why do you think Jesus ate with “sinners?”
3. How does our church open itself to those who are “sick?” Or, are we only available for those who are “healthy?”  
4. What does this passage show you about not being rude or irritable? How can we implement lessons from this passage to become a more loving community?

As you meet this week, we encourage you to also take time to open yourselves up as a group and dialog on the following Wesley Challenge question:  Am I honest in all my actions and words, or do I exaggerate? (Pages 113-116 in The Wesley Challenge)

Special Guest Speaker, Len Sweet

A Special Sunday with Len Sweet

We are so excited to have Len Sweet with us this Sunday for worship. 

Len is the author of more than 60 books and 1500 published sermons. His most recent publications are Mother Tongue: How Our Heritage Shapes Our Story and The Bad Habits of Jesus: Showing Us the Way to Live Right in a World Gone Wrong.

For almost two decades, Len has served as the E. Stanley Jones Professor of Evangelism at Drew University in Madison, New Jersey. Currently he is a Visiting Distinguished Professor at George Fox University in Portland, Oregon, and a Distinguished Visiting Professor at Tabor College in Hillsboro, Kansas. He also has just become the Charles Wesley Distinguished Professor of Doctor of Theology Studies at Evangelical Seminary in Myers, Pennsylvania. He is President Emeritus of United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio, and he is the founder and chief contributor to the online preaching resource, preachthestory.com. Len often appears on the “Most Influential Christians in America” lists, and issues a podcast called “Napkin Scribbles,” sponsored by Portland Seminary of George Fox University. His microblogs and blogs on Twitter and Facebook are ranked as some of the most influential religious sites in the world of social media. He conducts monthly webinars on semiotics and preaching that are open to everyone. 

Len lives on Orcas Island in the San Juan Islands (Washington State), where he frequently conducts two-to-three day campfire conversations in his home, Dolphin Cay (www.the-salish.com). He calls them “advances,” not “retreats.”   

Here is a short video interview with Len (from Youtube) that is a great introduction to his passion and style:

This week as you meet in small groups we invite you to take time to reflect on Len's message and share your key take-a-ways. 

As you meet, we also encourage you to take time to open yourselves up as a group and dialog on the following Wesley Challenge question:  How do I spend my spare time?  (Pages 79-84 in The Wesley Challenge)

Love is: Week Four

Not Boastful or Proud 

This week, while you meet with your Faith Formation Group you may want to reflect on our Scripture passage by reading Matthew 6:1-7, Luke 18:9-14 (printed below) and discuss the questions from the Scripture and Sermon as a way to begin a conversation. 

Matt. 6:1    “Watch out! Don’t do your good deeds publicly, to be admired by others, for you will lose the reward from your Father in heaven. ² When you give to someone in need, don’t do as the hypocrites do—blowing trumpets in the synagogues and streets to call attention to their acts of charity! I tell you the truth, they have received all the reward they will ever get. ³ But when you give to someone in need, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. ⁴ Give your gifts in private, and your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.

Matt. 6:5    “When you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites who love to pray publicly on street corners and in the synagogues where everyone can see them. I tell you the truth, that is all the reward they will ever get. ⁶ But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.

Matt. 6:7    “When you pray, don’t babble on and on as the Gentiles do. They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and again.

Luke 18:9    Then Jesus told this story to some who had great confidence in their own righteousness and scorned everyone else: ¹⁰ “Two men went to the Temple to pray. One was a Pharisee, and the other was a despised tax collector. ¹¹ The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed this prayer: ‘I thank you, God, that I am not like other people—cheaters, sinners, adulterers. I’m certainly not like that tax collector! ¹² I fast twice a week, and I give you a tenth of my income.’

Luke 18:13    “But the tax collector stood at a distance and dared not even lift his eyes to heaven as he prayed. Instead, he beat his chest in sorrow, saying, ‘O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner.’ ¹⁴ I tell you, this sinner, not the Pharisee, returned home justified before God. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

Questions for Consideration:

1. As you read the above passage from Matthew is the Jesus calling you not to pray and not to do good deeds?
2. We are called to do good, to bless others and to fast and pray, but we are called to do them out of the generosity of our hearts and not for public display. What are some ways in which you can live out this kind of life today?
3. Why did the tax collector get the blessing and not the Pharisee? How do you approach God?

As you meet this week, we encourage you to also take time to open yourselves up as a group and dialog on the following Wesley Challenge question:  Do I thank God that I am not like others?  (Pages 95-98 in The Wesley Challenge)