[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?

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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?

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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.

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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

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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.

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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.

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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?

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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?

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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?

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What Had happened at Grace this week. 

[Sunday] First You're Last - Missio Dei

It’s always amazing to see us, workers of God’s kingdom, trying to maintain a pecking order of righteousness in the midst of such great generosity of our God. 

QUESTIONS FOR THE WEEK:   First You’re Last

1. When do you feel the pressure to be first or the best?  When has that backfired on you?

2. Read Matthew 20:1-16.  What is the danger of thinking this parable is about compensation for work completed?

3. What is the danger of thinking you deserve something special if you’re a diligent worker?

4. What does it look like for you to rejoice in the “denarius” that God gives to you this week?

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What Had happened at Grace this week. 

[Sunday] Kingdom Carol - Missio Dei

Jesus is sitting with Scrooge-like religious leaders when one talks about how great the feast in God’s kingdom will be. But will those scrupulous Scrooges even be there, or will God bring everyone else to the party from all the roads and the countryside?

QUESTIONS FOR THE WEEK:   Kingdom Carol

1. Describe a time you felt excluded from a party or an invitation to something great.  How did you feel?

2. Discuss the difference between an invitation of grace and a lightning bolt of judgment.  How do you see those differences in Luke 14:1-24?

3. When are some times you might use excuses to miss out on Jesus’ grace?  How does Jesus always come back to you and invite you to his party?

A Christmas Carol

By Charles Dickens

Buy on Amazon

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What Had happened at Grace this week. 

[Sunday] Plans - Missio Dei

Jesus sends his disciples to bring the mission of God to the Children of Israel. But how Jesus sends them out is so much different than our planned expectations.

QUESTIONS FOR THE WEEK:   Plans

1. Read Mark 6:1-13.   Jesus experiences opposition and then sends his disciples out in His mission.  What does that mission look like for the disciples?  What are they to bring?  What are they to do in opposition?  What is the goal of their ministry?

2. How important is it for us to recognize that the mission of God is not our mission? What false leanings do we succumb to if we believe the mission belongs to us? 

3. Do you think the great commission is called great because it is so wonderful? Or because it is so huge? Talk about both.   Why is the act of us being sent so wonderful?  Why is the mission so huge?

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What Had happened at Grace this week. 

[Sunday] Born & Light - Missio Dei

The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness, a light has dawned. But how is this light dawned by being born again?

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What Had happened at Grace this week. 

[Sunday] Field of Fishermen - Missio Dei

Jesus walks into Galilee, and rather than expecting his followers to come to his level, Jesus calls his disciples right where they are.

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What Had happened at Grace this week. 

[Sunday] David A Christmas Story - Rise & Fall

Sermon

The story of David follows those patterns of the kingdom of God. From Hannah’s pattern of humbleness to Eli’s pattern of pride leading to a fall. But David's fall at the end of Samuel cries out into the future giving us eyes to see the pattern again in the true and better David. 

View fullsize

Bible Study for Sunday
2 Samuel Chapters 21-24

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What Had happened at Grace this week. 

[Sunday] Grief - Rise & Fall

Absalom looks at his father David and only sees pain. In his attempt to take the throne, he ends up getting caught up in his own pride. 

Bible Study for Sunday
2 Samuel Chapters 13-20

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What Had happened at Grace this week.