Week 1 Being Challenge Together: intro
intro to telling our stories
Above is pastors together group
Welcome to Week 1 Contents.
Pastor Cris Together Group Video
Meets Thursday 11am: Video Releases Friday Morning
Together Group Video
Discussion Guide
Pastor Cris’ Together Group Meets
Thursday Morning at 11am
Video recording releases Friday mornings.
Together Group Video Week 1
Discussion Guide | Week 1
[Sunday] Keystone Habits- Being Challenge
The challenge begins this week as we introduce 5 keystone habits which are found in Jesus' teachings and life. The hope is for the habits to become part of who you are and that they would deepen your "being" with Jesus.
The challenge begins this week as we introduce 5 keystone habits which are found in Jesus' teachings and life. The hope is for the habits to become part of who you are and that they would deepen your "being" with Jesus.
Days This week.
Tuesday is Day 1 in your book.
Sunday is Day 6
Home Group Video and Questions
What Had happened at Grace this week.
Being Challenge! New Series in September
The most important target to hit as a disciple of Jesus is BEING in a relationship with Him.
The most important target to hit as a disciple of Jesus is BEING in a relationship with Him.
We know what it’s like to have the desire to grow in our relationship with God and yet feel stagnant. Being Challenge leads readers to a stronger relationship with God through simple challenges that focus on the 5 keystone habits of Jesus: community, scripture, prayer, solitude and church.
September 11 Intro
Day 1: Tuesday
September 18
Commit to Community Day 6
September 25
Study Scripture Day 13
October 2
Prioritize Prayer Day 20
October 9
Seek Solitude Day 27
October 16
Choose Church Day 34
September 11th we are starting the Being Challenge.
Red Letter Challenge is a dynamic 40-day experience that helps people more effectively follow Jesus Christ!
Practice the Habits of Jesus
Find Joy in Relationship with God
Discover Purpose Being with God
Purchase the Workbook
Grabe a Workbook.
The books can be shared but feel free to grab what you need
The church has ordered some Being books.
The books cost the church 25$ Per Book
As with everything if 25$ is too much please take one.
Both Amazon and RLC both are selling the book
both links are included.
Amazon may be faster,
RLC will be cheaper.
Buy the Book on Amazon
Being Challenge Together Groups
Lets Take up this Challenge together
New Together Group Weeks Released Sunday at 11am
We are stronger together and any challenge is better when helped.
I encourage you to meeting with other people to watch each week’s video and go through the discussion questions.
Where We Were Always Meant To Be
Come With Me to Babylon If You Like
Read whole article Here at Mbird.com
my book group spent this past summer reading through Wendell Berry’s Jayber Crow, a fictional book of strung-together memories and reflections of a wizened old barber in the small town of Port William, Kentucky. The book is filled to the brim with thoughts on “rootedness” and “place.” Jayber Crow hasn’t ever left the state, and he’s barely left the small town, but the story should serve as a reminder that you don’t have to travel the world to think deep thoughts and reflect on what it is to love……………………..
[Sunday] The Staff- Missio Dei
God came into the world not in power but as a baby born in poverty. When God set his people apart, he did not find a powerful ruler but a man who had no son. When God looked for a new king, he picked the one that was left in the field. And when God was asked how "How will they know I came from you?" He said, "Bring your staff, Moses."
God came into the world not in power but as a baby born in poverty. When God set his people apart, he did not find a powerful ruler but a man who had no son. When God looked for a new king, he picked the one that was left in the field. And when God was asked how "How will they know I came from you?" He said, "Bring your staff, Moses."
Questions for the week
What causes you to groan in life? What is your staff of Moses?
Read 2 Corinthians 5:11-21. What does a ministry of reconciliation look like in your life?
Focusing on verse 21, what assurance do you have from Jesus in the middle of groans and sins of life?
How might you encourage someone in the groans of life?
What Had happened at Grace this week.
Rise and Fall of Mars Hill Podcast
I have talked about this Podcast a few times now. For the last year we have talked about power. This podcast is about that and its corruption in one of the biggest churches in the world. Its very interesting.
I have talked about this Podcast a few times now. For the last year we have talked about power. This podcast is about that and its corruption in one of the biggest churches in the world. Its very interesting.
The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill | Podcasts | Christianity Today
Founded in 1996, Seattle’s Mars Hill Church was poised to be an influential, undeniable force in evangelicalism—that is until its spiraling collapse in 2014. The church and its charismatic founder, Mark Driscoll, had a promising start. But the perils of power, conflict, and Christian celebrity eroded and eventually shipwrecked both the preacher and his multimillion-dollar platform.
[Sunday] The Reset - Missio Dei
The head Pharisee yelled at the guard for not capturing Jesus, “Has the whole world gone after Him?" Frustrated, this head Pharisee desperately needed a win, but not just a win; winning was his entire goal, and that goal blinded him to the heart of God in the world. We are no different. We need a reset.
The head Pharisee yelled at the guard for not capturing Jesus, “Has the whole world gone after Him?" Frustrated, this head Pharisee desperately needed a win, but not just a win; winning was his entire goal, and that goal blinded him to the heart of God in the world. We are no different. We need a reset.
Questions for the week
Think of a time when you took wanting to win too far. How did that affect you and the relationships around you?
Read John 8:21-20. Jesus speaks of “being lifted up.” What does this mean? Why would that be divisive?
As you read through the gospel of John, how does Nicodemus understand what it means that Jesus is lifted up?
How has Jesus reset and restored you?
What Had happened at Grace this week.
God For The Skeptic
Christianity Is Not A Straitjacket
I don’t want to be bound by anything. I want my boundaries limitless. I don’t want anything to stop me, hinder me, or throw a wrench in my affairs. And when God demands that he will be God and I must remain human, fallible, and perishable, I react as if someone is coming after me with a straitjacket — buckles waving in the air, sleeves ready to bind me, and a locked and padded cell awaiting me. I fear that being a Christian will imprison me. Like St. Augustine, I pray, “God grant me chastity, but not yet. Grant me religious fervor, but not if people will think I’m weird. Grant me a clean heart, but let me giggle at something smutty now and then. God, give me a future, but let it be on my own terms. And keep that damn straitjacket of religion far away.”
[Sunday] Look & See - Missio Dei
We stepped out of the car all awestruck at what we were looking at. Even though all were already looking, we still encouraged each other to look and see. This is how John tells his story of hope for the creation.
Questions for the week
Describe a time when you were amazed and said, “Look and see!”
Read John 1:19-36. Who are the priests and levites looking to see? How does John the Baptist point them to someone even greater?
Like John the Baptist, how can you help prepare the way for people to see Jesus as the “Lamb of God” and the “Son of God?”
How is your life influenced by looking and seeing that Jesus is the Savior and King of the World?
What Had happened at Grace this week.
Habitat For Children Ministries
Habitat for children ministries presentation
Habitat For Children Ministries
Current Building Needs for their medical office complex in Haiti
Items Needed Cost Per Item Total
Truck Load of Sand (7 needed) $150/ load $1050
Concrete Blocks (2000 needed) $3/ each $6000
Rebar 3/8, 1⁄2 & 1⁄4 (5 tons needed) $1000/each ton $5000
Cement (500 bags needed) $10/ bag $5000
2×4 Wood (20 pieces needed) $4/ each $80
Plywood (30 pieces) $55/each $1,650
2 Rebar Tie Wire Steel $100/each $200
12 Dozen Metal Poles $35/each $5040
2 cases of nails $100/each $200
You can make any donation amount to either of the following:
Grace Lutheran Church, mark the donation as “Habitat for Children”
Visit our website: www.hfcm.info
Paypal- https://www.paypal.me/Habitatforchildren
Mail: Habitat For Children Ministries- P.O. Box 1195, West Palm Beach, FL 33402
[Sunday] Famous Expectations - Missio Dei
We can sure be nasty when our expectations are not met. But would you throw someone off a cliff if they failed to meet your famous expectations? Let's see how God creates a new creation outside of our famous expectations.
Questions for the week
The people of Nazareth thought they were entitled to receive Jesus’ gracious words and deeds because they were his friends and relatives. What things cause us to feel entitled to receive God’s grace and mercy? How do we counteract that sense of entitlement?
Read Luke 4:14-30. Nazareth was a thoroughly Jewish community. As such, the people labored non-stop to keep themselves pure from spiritual uncleanliness of the Gentile world surrounding them. Their penchant for personal purity, however, blinded them to God’s compassion for the world and their participation in his mission. How do we do similar things today that get in the way of our participation in God’s mission to the world?
How has Jesus liberated you to serve in his mission? Who might you bring this Good News of Jesus to this week?
What Had happened at Grace this week.
DNF
The Cross and the Finish Line
I came to with a blur of faces standing over me. “Let me finish,” I mumbled. “Please, please let me finish.” I tried to get up from the stretcher but was gently pushed back down.
“We need to make sure you’re okay first,” someone told me. “We need a doctor to clear you.” I nodded and lay back down. I told myself that I would be fine, that I just needed to start running again.
A man who I assumed was the doctor came over to my stretcher. He looked me over. He asked the nurses, “She threw up?”
[Sunday] Feather In The Wind - Missio Dei
It seems like chaos as Jesus is arrested. It’s like He’s a feather in the wind, being blown around into beatings and shame with a crown of thorns placed on his head. But what if the wind is not chaos but more like a cloud in the wilderness?
Questions for the week
How have you seen God work in the middle of chaos in your life?
Read John 12:27-36 (and John 18 and 19 for extra credit). How do you see God in control at all times, even in chaos?
How can we be more effective as witnesses in presenting the cross as a sign that God is in control of the chaos?
Kids did a wonderful job singing and playing the bells.