SELF-CONTROL (3): Sermon Prep Guide

READ Matthew 12:43-45

What strikes you? What challenges you? What encourages you? 

How do you see these verses as being related to self-control? 

If, as Dan's been preaching, self-control is more about relying on God's strength rather than exerting our own will-power, how does this parable support this message? 

APPLY YOURSELF TO THIS MESSAGE

In the last sentence of these verses, Jesus points the parable directly at the generation before Him, one that is hearing His teachings but not choosing to enter into His Kingdom. In what areas of Jesus' teaching through His scriptures, through the teaching of the church, or through the Spirit's message to your own heart is a lesson being preached that you are not letting in to your "house"?

Are there areas of your life where you have obediently repented of sin, cleansed your life of sinful habits, but not replaced those behaviors with positive full life of the Spirit of God? Put another way, in emptying your life of the bad, where might you be also closing off the power of the Spirit to flow in and through you to re-fill your emptiness with the Spirit's goodness?  

CLOSE BY READING OVER PSALM 23

What does God desire to fill your house with? 

GENTLENESS (1): Sermon Prep Guide

Begin by considering one person or thing that you cherish the most. How does your cherishing influence your behavior? 

REVIEW Galatians 5:13-26

After immersing ourselves in the Fruit of the Spirit for the past several months as a congregation, what strikes you about this passage today? What might God be trying to reveal to you through these studies and scriptures?

READ Matthew 9:35-36

How did Jesus feel about the people he encountered? How did that influence His behavior? 

READ John 4:1-30

What in this story would make you say, "Come and see! Could this be?"

How does Jesus handle this sinful woman? What does that reveal about how He feels about her or what He desires for her?

Where do you see Gentleness in these passages? 

What is the result of gentleness in this passage for the woman? For people besides the woman?

In whom do you see the Fruit of Gentleness pouring forth?

BONUS: Can you find other stories in scripture that reveal God's Gentleness? [comment here on this blog post if you do!] 

EPIPHANY: Sermon Prep Guide

Epiphany Defined: 

a (1)  :  a usually sudden manifestation or perception of the essential nature or meaning of something  (2)  :  an intuitive grasp of reality through something (as an event) usually simple and striking  (3)  :  an illuminating discovery, realization, or disclosure b  :  a revealing scene or moment

READ: Matthew 3:13-17

What strikes you? What confuses you? What troubles you? What encourages you? 

Based on the above definition of Epiphany, what is revealing about this scene and moment? 

John's was a baptism of repentance. Check out this quote from CS Lewis about repentance. How does this contribute to the epiphany of this scene in Matthew?

"Now repentance is no fun at all. It is something much harder than merely eating humble pie. It means unlearning all the self-conceit and self-will that we have been training ourselves into for thousands of years. It means undergoing a kind of death. In fact, it needs a good man to repent. And here's the catch. Only a bad person needs to depend: only a good person can repent perfectly. The worse you are the more you need it and the less you can do it. The only person who could do it perfectly would be a perfect person - and he would not need it." ~ C. S. Lewis

Read Galatians 3:27. If being a Christian means "putting on Christ," what does this mean about the Christian's capacity to repent? What does this mean about the pleasure with which God views the Christian? 

How does this scene transform our understanding of reality? What do we learn about God? How does this make you feel? How does this move you to act differently? 

PATIENCE Week 4: Sermon Prep Guide

Hiddy Folks. I know Christmas is fast approaching, so schedules and brains are probably getting increasingly frazzled. AND I don't want folks to stop preparing for our worship together on Sunday mornings - because that would just give into the cultural communication that anything-but-Jesus is the reason for the season. So let's keep spending time with God, in His word, and loving on each other! With that said . . . 

READ Matthew 1:18-25

If this passage is familiar, try reading it in a fresh way - try a different translation of the Bible, read it outloud, write it out, or read it with someone who is all together UNfamiliar with it (like a child or a non-Christian). 

What strikes you? Why?

Joseph is told to name Mary's son, "Jesus" . . . or in his language, "Yeshua" [our "Joshua"]. He wasn't the first or last Yeshua in history by any means. Yeshua means "to rescue." Who does the passage say that this Yeshua was going to rescue, and from what? 

The passage goes on to give us a different name for Jesus. What is it? What does it mean? Why would Yeshua be a fulfillment of a prophecy for a son by that name? [What do the two meanings teach us when held together?]

As is often the case when an angel first begins speaking to a human, this one tells Joseph, "Do not fear." What would Joseph have been fearing? What is the comfort provided instead? How effective is this comfort in transforming Joseph's behavior? 

As the Christmas song, God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen says, this story brings "tidings of comfort and joy." Does that ring true or false to you? Why? If it does ring true, and you find comfort in this story, how effectively are you able to allow it to transform your behavior? How readily can it compel you to obey God's commands?

Now to the Lord sing praises,
All you within this place,
And with true love and brotherhood
Each other now embrace;
This holy tide of Christmas
All other doth deface.
O tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy

PATIENCE Week 2: Sermon Prep

READ Romans 15:4-13

RE-Read verse 4: What hope do the scriptures encourage you to have? What does this have to do with Patience?

What other encouragements do you find in this particular passage of scripture? What challenges you? What else strikes you as interesting?

Read verse 7: How has Christ welcomed you? How do you welcome others? How can you more fully glorify God in obeying this command?

Read through the passage and look for the presence or idea of “harmony.” What do you observe? What do you learn about God’s heart through this observation? What do you learn about how to follow Jesus through this observation?

RE-Read verse 12: Who is the root of Jesse? Let’s look at what Isaiah says about this person:

READ Isaiah 11:1-10

Isaiah paints the picture of a family tree, starting with Jesse, the father of King David. What do you learn about the Shoot of Jesse or Root of Jesse from this passage?  

Scholars think that the book of Isaiah was written between 7th or 8th BCE, while Romans was written ~55 CE. That puts a minimum of 700 years between them. What does this span of time holding the same topic and hope tell you about the kind of patience involved in the life of faith?

Consider the role of fear in this passage. Take a look at the passage verse-by-verse and articulate about how fear is present, at work, or anything else interesting about fear. What do you learn about God by paying attention to the story of fear in these verses?

<< Finish the studying and looking for more meat to chew on? Give these a try:>>

READ Matthew 3:1-12

Re-Read verse 8. We are spending the year learning about the fruit of the Spirit. How might this text be related? What different perspective does this shed for you on the fruit of the Spirit?

Re-Read verse 9: This contains an interesting example about Abraham. Why would this suggestion hold such weight? [Check out Genesis 18:1-15] What does this say about the wideness of God’s heart and desire for drawing unexpected characters into this family?

We have different imagery here about tree roots. What does this imagery teach about the Root of Jesse? What does this say about the connection between the Root of Jesse and the Fruit of the Spirit?   

READ Psalm 72:1-7, 18-19

Try using this text as a guided prayer.