9/16 WNL- Faith & Flicks, Horton Hears a Who: Belief in the Unseen

Introduction:

• 10 minutes to go around and find things that show the existence of God.
• There was unbelief on two levels. The Whos didn’t believe the mayor that there was someone in the sky. Likewise, no one believed that there were little people living on a speck.
• Often times, the hardest thing that we have to do is to show people things that show evidence of God. People find it hard to believe in things that are unseen.

Discussion: Read 2 Corinthians 4

• How easy is it for you to get caught up in all the things that you can see?
• Do you find that the things you can see often get in the way of the things that you cannot see?
• How do you convince someone that there is truly something to believe in that is beyond this world, something that they cannot see?

9/13 Ignite- All Greek to Me: Agape

Devotion by Jared

• Contrast “love” words. Eros= love between the sexes. Storge= family love, love for a ruler, love of a nation/household for their god. mainly for parent-child love. Philia- to cherish. Love of Jesus for Lazarus, and the beloved disciple. Friendship/husband & wife love

Agape/Agapan

• Not always, but mostly used to describe Christian love.
• Agape demands the exercise of the whole man. It extends to the Christian, the neighbor, the enemy, to all the world
• Agape has to do with the mind, it’s not simply an emotion.
• Agape has to do with the will. A conquest for victory

Matthew 5.43-48

• We are told to love our enemies.
• William Barclay: “Agape is the spirit which says: ‘No matter what any man does to me, I will never seek to do harm to him. I will never set out for revenge, I will always seek nothing but his highest good.”
• Agape is treating men as God treats them.

Challenge:

• To look through these characteristics of love, and see if it helps your understanding of what we are called to do, as well as the verses that you are reading.

M&M Discussion

What is the most exhausting thing you have ever done?

In your spiritual life, What is the hardest thing to do?

Have you ever been in love? If not, what does being in love look like?

• Consider the fact that “agape” refers to loving someone with all your heart and mind. It is a conscious effort to love someone with every bit of our being.

Love is very hard. It is looking past faults and disagreements and loving someone with your whole self.

Read Luke 6:27-36

Consider our discussion on love earlier, and talking about it, does this mean more to you now? Love is not just tolerating them, it’s truly loving them with everything you have.

Who are some people that you find hard to love (no names!)?

Think about it, love is at the center of our faith because everything comes from it. If you love God and others you don’t murder, slander, gossip, steal, lust, make fun of, persecute, talk about, ignore, etc.

Let’s take a couple minutes to pray that God will help us get better at loving people. You know those who you do not love, those you hate, those you are mean to. You are called to love that person, with everything you have. Pray that God will help you.

After prayer, please have everyone get an accountability partner. They are to make sure they don’t talk about others, say mean things, gossip, or treat others wrong. They are trying to help each other love everyone, and love God.

9/13 Road Blocks- Intellect, 1 Corinthians 1:18-2:16

Intro:

• What are some intellectual arguments against the existence of God?
• What are some intellectual arguments against Jesus as Savior?
• I want you to sit here and think about God. Do you think you could possibly think your way out of faith?

Lesson

• Read 1 Corinthians 1:18. Paul is contrasting worldly wisdom with the message of the cross.
• Read 1 Corinthians 1:19. God has a great sense of humor here. Let’s think about all the scholars and people on television who say there is no God. These brainy people believe that they are so smart and they believe that there is no way a God could exist. God is saying if you try to find laws of motion, or physics or anything else that proves that I am here, you won’t find it. I made those laws, and am above those laws!
• Read 1 Corinthians 1:20-24. Why is the cross a stumbling block to Jews? It causes them to say their whole faith was fulfilled by the death of a carpenter. Why is the cross foolishness to Gentiles? Their attitude goes along the lines of: live like you want, earn the most you can, get rich and popular. That sounds a whole lot different than the life of Jesus, and the life that He calls His followers to live.
• Read 1 Corinthians 1:25-31. What aspects of the Christian life does not make sense to people?
• Read 1 Corinthians 2:1-5. Paul knew his audience when he came to Corinth to preach the Gospel. Do you know your audience when you are evangelizing?
• Read 1 Corinthians 2:6-16. Does this make sense why people cannot understand or fathom God? I don’t know what Oprah is thinking right now because I’m not a mind reader and my spirit/thoughts are not her thoughts. This is why people do not understand God. They rely on their intellect and try to see things, but they cannot understand God because God’s thoughts, His Spirit is not in them.

Road Blocks:

• What questions do you have about God? What answers do you need to know? What is in your mind that prevents you from truly trusting in God or accepting Him as real and true? Today, write your questions down, and earnestly seek God’s spirit, the one that lives in you, and have the Spirit fill your mind with knowledge. Will it make sense to your mind? Probably not, but it is the answer.

9/6 Ignite- All Greek to Me: Ekklesia (Church)

Devotion- Jared Graves

Intro

• What do you think a definition of church would be?
• What do you think a definition of church should be?

Devotion

• Today’s word is “ekklesia” or “church”. We have really screwed up the original idea of church. We have made a local selection of believers.
• There is a misconception that church means to be “called out”. That is not what ekklesia means. FJA Hort points out that ekkelsia means “summoned out”. People are summoned out of their homes to come and meet with God. Now, the summons is not for a selective number of individuals either. It is a summon for every man to come and listen to and act out the word of God.
• William Barclay- “The Church…is a body of people, not so much assembling because they have chosen to come together but assembling because God called them to himself; not so much assembling to share their own thoughts and opinions, but assembling to listen to the voice of God”

Application

• With this in mind, how does it change your view of “church”?
• You are going to explore some aspects of the church in your M&M time. I pray that today, you come away with a greater sense of “Church” and what it truly means.

M&M Discussion

William Barclay says this: “Any group of Roman citizens, meeting anywhere throughout the world, would be called “an assembly of Roman citizens.” Wherever they were meeting, they were a part of the great conception of Rome. They had no meaning apart from Rome; they were part of a great unity.”

Please note that throughout the NT, “ekklesia” is NEVER used to describe a building!

Relate this to the church. How should we view what we do here at BGCC and how we view our local church?

Three relationships in the New Testament church: 1) Human relationships- 1 Thessalonians 1:1- Men & women are the bricks out of which the edifice of the church is built. 2) “The Church of God”- 1 Corinthians 1:2- The Church belongs to God and comes from God. 3) “The Church of Christ”- Christ is the head of the Church- Ephesians 5:23-24, The Church is the Body of Christ- Colossians 1:24

An Indian once described the Church as “The Church which carries on the life of Christ." Do you think that we do that?

Since “Church” does not describe a building, then Church happens everywhere, even in your homes. How can you make your home a Church?

9/6 Road Blocks: Loyalty, 1 Corinthians 1:1-17, 3-4

Introduction:

• Each student got with other students who shared their same favorite this, or favorite that: favorite musician, favorite color, favorite movie, favorite TV show, favorite NFL team, favorite school subject
• We have favorite this, favorite that. Most of the time it’s not a big deal. But in some cases it could get very dangerous.
• Before we get into Corinthians, we must take a few notes about them. What do you know about them? Very well to do area, aristocratic, very Roman, Much like American society.

Lesson:

Read 1 Corinthians 1:1-9

Read 1 Corinthians 1:10-17

• There was a problem with loyalty with the Corinthians. Some followed Paul because he was the first to bring the good news to them. Some Apollos, a newer, flashier evangelist, who brought the same message. Some followed Cephas, who is Cephas? (Peter). Some followed Peter because he was the first, the main leader of the church. Others did not follow any man, but Christ. Which ones were right?
• Paul notes that it doesn’t matter who brings the message, but rather the source of the message- Jesus.

Read 1 Corinthians 3:1-4

• Paul revisits the issue in chapter 3. Paul contrasts himself with Apollos.

Read 1 Corinthians 3:5-9

• Paul once again states that they were nothing more than messengers,

Read 1 Corinthians 3:10-22

• Foundations built on Christ cannot stay up unless the building on top of it remains Christ.

Read 1 Corinthians 4

• Paul warns them about being loyal to each other and looking out for themselves. He notes that they have plenty of brothers, but not many fathers. They don’t have the guidance they need within their own people. They have everything they could need, except for guidance. That is why he sent Timothy to them. Though he was young, he was mature enough to give them advice and walk them through their questions and quarrels

Road Blocks

• We are loyal to many things. There are some things that we do not want to give up. They may be our idols. But we are called to give them up. We cannot be loyal to a person. I’ve heard many people quit going to church because a pastor left, or a youth minister left. God is still the same, and is still there, we are not loyal to men, but to God. Let us come and write those things that are preventing us from being who God calls us to be.
• The students wrote on pieces of paper those things that they are loyal to that are keeping their relationship with God from moving, or preventing them from being the person they are called to be. They will be taped onto an actual 'road block' sign and displayed.

8/30 Ignite- Good Hygiene: Getting Cleaned Up

For Ignite, we had a rocking worship service and heard a message on the history of man's relationship with God. We noted that once sin entered the world we were Messy. However, God acted upon this, He desired a relationship with His creation, and sent His own, spotless Son, to take on all the mess that we were covered in. The only way for this to happen, however, is through accepting Christ as a personal Savior and Son of God, and being obedient in baptism, the cleansing of our sins.

8/30 Bankrupt- The Story of Job, Job 38-42

Introduction:

• Where did we leave off in the story?
• If you were God, would you have come to explain yourself to Job? When would you have done it?
• For whatever reason, now is the time for God to show up and to give all the answers that they were looking for

Lesson

Job 38-39

• God doesn’t sit Job down in a nice comfy chair and ask him to go through all of his problems. Instead God starts by stating exactly who He is, and exactly what He does.
• Do you think God wants to go on one of these explanations when we start to whine and complain?
• God continues His’ statements in chapter 40-41.

Job 42:1-6

• Throughout the book of Job, his friends tried to get Job to repent from his sin. Job finally repents here, but it is not the kind called for by his friends. He did not ask for forgiveness for committing secret sins, but for questioning God’s sovereignty and justice.

Job 42:7-9

• God turns his attention to the friends. He says that they are not speaking the truth and telling Job what God was actually doing. In our society, do you think there are people like Job’s friends who either intentionally, or unintentionally say things on the behalf of God that are completely false?
• How can this be a warning to us?

Job 42:10-17

• God replenishes what he took from Job. Why?
• Does this mean anytime something bad happens we will receive everything back?

Application

• What are your thoughts on the ending of the book of Job?
• What lessons have you learned throughout this study of Job?