[Sunday] Oh Christmas Tree - Emmanuel: Joy in the Midst

Jesus eats with tax collectors and sinners. He is there when the new little family almost splits up. He is even Emmanuel when the dreams of wonderful Christmas trees come crashing down.

QUESTIONS FOR THE WEEK:  EMMANUEL: JOY IN THE MIDST - Oh Christmas Tree

1. Describe a time when a Christmas celebration didn’t quite go as planned.

2. Read Matthew 1:18-25.   How does Joseph’s life not quite go as planned?   How does God work anyway?

3. Read Matthew 9: 9-13.   Why did Jesus eat with Matthew’s friends?  Why did the Pharisees complain about it?

4. Think of some shortcomings in your life?  What does it mean that Emmanuel comes even for those times?

---

What Had happened at Grace this week. 

[Wednesday] Christmas Characters - Mid-week Advent + Photos

6:30PM Wednesday Dec 6th
5:30PM Potluck Dinner

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yx1t3VlZplI

Step into a festive wonderland at our upcoming Wednesday Advent event! Join us for an enchanting evening filled with Christmas characters spanning from the mischievous Krampus to the beloved St. Nick, and journey through time with Old Testament prophets, Mary, and Joseph. Immerse yourself in the rich tapestry of global holiday traditions, and delight in the joy of singing classic Christmas carols. As a special touch, don your coziest Christmas sweater—don't worry, we'll turn down the AC to keep the holiday spirit alive! It's a magical celebration that brings together the best of Christmas past and present, promising a memorable and heartwarming experience for all.

---

What Had happened at Grace this week. 

[Sunday] Christmas Letter - Emmanuel: Joy in the Midst

Ahh the Classic Christmas Letter, where we divulge all the braggadocious details of our year but leave out certain difficult parts of struggle. What details would Zecheriah include in a letter? Helping the Temple? Going mute because of unbelief? Childlessness? But Emmanuel comes into his and our midst bringing songs of joy.

QUESTIONS FOR THE WEEK:  Emmanuel: Joy in the Midst

1.  If you were writing a Christmas card about your life over the past year, what details would you include?  

2. Read Luke 1:5-25, 57-80.   Why do you think Zecheriah doesn’t believe the angel?   What happens to him?   How does Elizabeth respond to the news?  What does she say about God?  What does Zecheriah realize in v.57-69?

3. Read Luke 7: 11-16.   What was the woman’s problem?  How does God visit her?

4. How might you encourage someone this advent season that Jesus has come to be with them?

New Song this Week!

Listen to our recording and the artist rendition.

Also Check every week, to listen to the songs of the week.

---

What Had happened at Grace this week. 

[Sunday] Christ the King Sunday 2023

Just as Christ is “the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end,” at the close of every liturgical year, we look forward, with renewed hope, to Christ’s coming again in glory to reign as Lord forever. In the same way, we also look forward to our own resurrection and the time of a new earth — an earth that is no longer broken by sin and groaning. Christ will come again in glory just as surely as He came the first time, when He was born. So we have these three weeks of “transition” at the end of the “long green season” into the Advent Season: the new beginning of the liturgical year.

QUESTIONS FOR THE WEEK:   Christ The King

1. Skim over Matthew 23-25.  What is Jesus primarily talking about?  How does it make you feel?

2. Think of a time when things seemed out of control in your life, where did you think God was in that time?   

3. Read Matthew 25:31.   At the end times where does Jesus say he (the son of man) will be?   

4. Read Matthew 25:32-40. How do the sheep (the righteous) respond when Jesus tells them all the good kingdom of God work they had been doing and welcomes them into His kingdom?   Think of a time when you didn’t realize when God was doing His Kingdom work through you as you were His hands and feet loving others.

---

What Had happened at Grace this week. 

[Sunday] Speak Well - Generosity

What she does is pretty outlandish. But while the disciples scold her for being wasteful, Jesus stands up for her. May we stand up for even the foolish, because we might just be emulating the grace of Jesus.

QUESTIONS FOR THE WEEK:   Generosity -Speak Well

1. How does a person’s reputation affect his standing in society?

2. Read Mark 14:1-9.   What do the disciples think about the woman who pours out the nard?  How do they describe what she’s done?  If you were that woman, how would you have felt at that moment?

3. How does Jesus respond to the disciples?  What does Jesus do for this woman?  How does Jesus do this same thing for you?

4. Who will you see this week that is normally slandered?  How might you speak well of them this week?

---

What Had happened at Grace this week. 

[Sunday] Coveting Abundance - Generosity

We should fear and love God so that we do not scheme to get our neighbor’s inheritance,  house, wife, or get it in a way which only appears right, but help and be of service to them in keeping it.

QUESTIONS FOR THE WEEK:   Generosity - Coveting Abundance

1. -What kinds of things are done under the guise of fair dealing by people who want what belongs to someone else yet do not want to appear dishonest?  How does society aid and abet such practices?

2. Read 1 Kings 21:1-16.  How do Ahab and Jezebel covet?  How are their actions dishonest?  

3. What ways today are we tempted to act in a similar way to Ahab and Jezebel?

1. In a world full of coveting, Jesus “gives his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45).  How is Jesus the opposite of the world?  What hope does this hold for you? 

---

What Had happened at Grace this week. 

[Sunday] Steal Generosity - Generosity

We should fear and love God so that we do not take our neighbor’s money or possessions, or get them in any dishonest way, but help him to improve and protect his possessions and income.

QUESTIONS FOR THE WEEK:   Generosity - Steal Generosity

1. -

---

What Had happened at Grace this week. 

[Sunday] Honored Blessing - Generosity

This is from the confession

Honor your father and mother, and your days will be blessed. Jacob contemplates his long history filled with selfishness, dishonor, and greed and chooses to see the abundance of God by honoring Pharaoh with a blessing.

QUESTIONS FOR THE WEEK:   Generosity - Honored Blessing

1. How is honoring different from loving?

2. Read Genesis 47:1-12.  How does Jacob describe his life?  

3. At the end of his life, how and why does he honor Pharoah?  What is surprising about that?

4. In what ways are parents God’s earthly representatives? Living in the abundance of God, how can we be free to honor our parents and leaders around us?

---

What Had happened at Grace this week. 

[Sunday] Split Abundance - Generosity

Have no other Gods before me. What does this mean? We should fear love and trust in God above all things. God has created us in abundance, so rest.

QUESTIONS FOR THE WEEK:   Generosity - Splitting Abundance 

1. What makes you uncomfortable as we talk about stewardship and generosity?   How is it tempting to make stewardship more about the law than grace?

2. Give a description of popular false gods in our generation. How does an idolatrous heart feel and behave toward each of these false Gods?

3. Read Luke 12:13-34.  What question is first asked of Jesus?  How does one miss out on the abundance of God?

4. How does Jesus respond to his question?  What does he encourage us to see?

---

What Had happened at Grace this week. 

[Sunday] Sanctification - Forgiving Challenge

True freedom is experienced through sanctification, when we realize the sins and shame the  enemy wanted to use to destroy us now becomes the means we use to not only destroy the enemy but bring others to freedom. This is Peter's story and ours as well.

QUESTIONS FOR THE WEEK:  See This weeks Together Group Study

Releases at 11Am on Sunday

---

What Had happened at Grace this week. 

[Sunday] Restoration - Forgiving Challenge

While Peter may still be pining over his past, Jesus is hyper-focused on pointing Peter towards the future. Jesus restores the original call He placed on his life. Not only does God forgive you, but God loves you.

QUESTIONS FOR THE WEEK:  See This weeks Together Group Study

Releases at 11Am on Sunday

---

What Had happened at Grace this week. 

[Sunday] Absolution - Forgiving Challenge

Jesus beautifully recreates Peter’s worst moment in order to show how Jesus is unafraid to enter into our worst moments, which gives us enough grace to cover even the worst parts of our stories.

QUESTIONS FOR THE WEEK:  See This weeks Together Group Study

Releases at 11Am on Sunday

---

What Had happened at Grace this week. 

[Sunday] Confession - Forgiving Challenge

Much like with Peter, Jesus invites all of us back into His presence through confession. But this practice simply shows Jesus positioning Himself to give us His grace, even if we don’t have the words to say how we feel.

QUESTIONS FOR THE WEEK:  See This weeks Together Group Study

Releases at 11Am on Sunday

---

What Had happened at Grace this week. 

[Sunday] Sin - Forgiving Challenge

Every single one of us misses the mark. As inventive, creative, and successful as humans can be in many aspects of life to overcome issues, the only way to overcome our sin is through Jesus.

QUESTIONS FOR THE WEEK:  See This weeks Together Group Study

Releases at 11Am on Sunday

New Song this week.

Click video link or listen to the piano.

---

What Had happened at Grace this week. 

[Sunday] S.C.A.R.S. - Forgiving Challenge

Today we look back at the time when a resurrected Jesus burst into the disciples’ room. One of the surprising elements of the glorified body of Jesus was that scars remained on His hands. What does this weird detail say about God, and us, as we think about forgiveness and freedom?

QUESTIONS FOR THE WEEK:  See This weeks Together Group Study

Releases at 11Am on Sunday

---

What Had happened at Grace this week. 

[Sunday] The Party - Titus Chapter 3

On one side you have an unhinged society, and on the other you have the strict law of compliance. But when it seems we are offered only those two realities, Paul reminds us that we are already at the party.

QUESTIONS FOR THE WEEK:  The Party

1. What do Christians often quarrel with those outside of the faith about?  What do christians quarrel with those inside of the faith about?  Why do you think they do that?

2. Read Titus 3.   What advice does Paul give to us?  Why can christians be free to live gentle lives and avoid such quarrels?

3. Titus is clear that we are to stand firm in the freedom of the death and resurrection of Jesus.  That Jesus alone has saved us.   How does this impact your walk with God and your neighbors around you?

New Song this Sunday

The audio only is the actual song we will use. The video will help with Melody.

---

What Had happened at Grace this week. 

[Sunday] The Way - Titus Chapter 2

The church should be an agent of transformation - not through culture wars or assimilation, but through wise participation in culture, devotion to Jesus, and the common good. All of this helps us show the beauty of the message about our saving God.

QUESTIONS FOR THE WEEK:  The Way

1. Describe a time when you saw a Christian living poorly in society.  What was his reputation?  What effect did this have on his witness?

2. Read Titus 2:1-15.   How does Paul encourage us to live? What effect does this way of life have on our witness (see verses 5, 8, 10)?

3. How has Jesus freed us to live this way (see verses 11-15)?

4. Describe a time when you saw a Chrstian living as a good citizen in society.  What was his reputation?  What effect did this have on his witness?

““Is there anything better than a wife who is chaste, domestic, a good housekeeper, a rearer of children; one to gladden you in health, to tend you in sickness, to be your partner in good fortune, to console you in misfortune; to restrain you in the mad passion of youth and to temper the unseasonable harshness of old age?””

— Caeser Augustus

New Song this Sunday

Watch to get acquainted.

---

What Had happened at Grace this week. 

[Sunday] Zeus’ Cretans - Titus Chapter 1

Titus was called to the island of Zeus’ birth, Crete. Those who lived on the island took great pride, even acting like their unhinged god. This wild behavior caused those in Greece frustration. The question is, how do you bring hope to a place that is filled with dishonor?

QUESTIONS FOR THE WEEK:   Zeus’ Cretans

1. Titus does ministry in Crete, the epicenter of the worship of the Greek gods.  What advice would you give someone doing ministry in that type of culture?

2. How is that culture similar to today?   

3. Read Titus 1:1-16.  What advice does Paul give to Titus ministering in Crete?

4. After reading Titus, how can you follow the way Paul is beginning to lay out and bring peace in a chaotic world?

---

What Had happened at Grace this week. 

[Sunday] Frist Apostle - Missio Dei

Mary came to the tomb feeling last and wanting to cry. Peter knew his faith, who was in and who was out. Yet when they both felt last, God sent them to be the first.

QUESTIONS FOR THE WEEK:   First Apostle 

1. When are some times you were beat down by society and made to feel “last?”

2. Read Matthew 28:1-10.  When Jesus died, how do you think Mary Magdalene would have felt?  How do you think she felt as she runs to tell the disciples about the resurrection?

3. How does the resurrection of Jesus change the plot of life for Mary Magdalene? How does the resurrection of Jesus change the plot of life for Peter (Read Acts 10: 34-48)?   

4. How does the resurrection of Jesus change the plot of your life?

---

What Had happened at Grace this week. 

[Sunday] Wilderness Voice - Missio Dei

The voice of one calling, like comfort to us all. That voice of comfort does not come from high pyramids or silver stones or fancy horses but from the wilderness.

QUESTIONS FOR THE WEEK:   Wilderness Voice

1. When you think of the voice calling from the wilderness and John the Baptist as that voice, what do you think of when you hear wilderness?

2. Read Mark 1:1-13. John the Baptist is that Voice from the wilderness, and Jesus goes into the wilderness after being baptized. What do you think the wilderness means at the beginning of the Gospel of Mark?

3. Read Isaiah 40:1-8. Why do you think this passage begins with “Comfort, comfort” before talking about the wilderness? 

4. What are those  places of struggle that God can give you a voice of good news for your neighbors?

---

What Had happened at Grace this week.