Grace-Snellville - Teachings | gfc.tv

Perhaps it’s not a coincidence that “dad joke” rhymes with “bad joke.” But as a new father myself, I’ve found that at least making the effort to laugh together is one of the best ways to draw a family together. The book of Deuteronomy is also all about drawing family together. And though there are admittedly few jokes in the Mosaic law, Deuteronomy does provide profound insight into the way God teaches us to draw together as family. As we will see, whether your earthly family is traditional, blended, broken, distant, or non-existent, God’s way of drawing us together makes family available to all. So what do you need to draw a family together? A pencil and paper, obviously. (Sorry… Now that I’m a dad myself, I couldn’t resist.) This Sunday, Benton Cranford, our Student Pastor, will be teaching from Deuteronomy 29-30. Podcast Downloads Date: June 19, 2016 // Title: Promised Land Living: Real Relationship Leads to a Revolution Scripture: Deuteronomy 29-30 ARRIVAL / SOCIAL TIME 15-20 minutes Spend the first 15 minutes or so of your time together catching up and socializing with one another. Also find time to catch up together on how the assignments from last week turned out. SERMON REVIEW 5-10 minutes This week we celebrated Father’s Day. We started off our morning with conversations and questions about our dads. What were some funny sayings that he had or has? What is something that you couldn’t stand that he did while you were growing up but now see the benefit? What is one word that you would use to describe him? For some this is a tough conversation. For others, it’s a great start to processing about your dad. Benton led us into a deeper conversation about God’s heart for his covenant with us. God’s invitation to covenant is an invitation to everyone. He engages each of us into relationship with him—a entering of himself into our heart that pierces our soul and circumcises our heart. He then invites us to walk with him as we explore obedience and experience his blessings. THE MAIN THOUGHT Keep this in mind as you facilitate discussion. Covenant is an invitation that is initiated and fulfilled by God. SEE IT Questions :: 10-15 minutes Picture (what is the story saying?): How do we tend to view a covenant relationship? Who does God invite into covenant? How is it different than we think? What does He want and pursue in us more than anything? How do beliefs affect behavior? Mirror (where am I in the story?): Where do you see your relationship with God like a contract? What other relationships do you see the same way? Have you allowed God to enter into a deeper intimacy with your heart? What would it look like for you to allow Him in? Window (How does the story change how I see the world around me?): How does this level of relationship and intimacy that God desires with you change the way you see Him? Who has God put into your path again and again that needs an invitation into covenant with God? What would it look like to have a conversation with that person? BE IT – Practice Soaking UP // Exercise 5 minutes God can be seen in many different roles. Sometimes our imperfect earthly fathers have changed the way we view our perfect Heavenly Father. Spend some time thinking about God as your perfect Father who does not make empty promises. Thank him for the promises that you have seen him fulfill and for eyes to see the ones you have not. Basking IN // Group Activity 15 minutes What’s your story with God? Pair up, preferably with someone who doesn’t know your story, and spend time bragging on God and what He’s done for you in the past. Reaching OUT // Life Application Assignment 5 minutes Where are there broken relationships to which you could help brin...

Sometimes, certain movie quotes become part of our everyday language because they capture a common experience or feeling so perfectly. For me and Amy, about 10 seconds of a scene from Napoleon Dynamite have shaped more of our conversations than we care to admit: “I want that!” Now, neither Amy nor I are longing to own a model wooden ship. But we can relate to that raw, American desire to acquire more and better things. The Tenth Commandment, however, forbids us from letting our desire to acquire run rampant at the expense of our neighbor. The corresponding laws in Deuteronomy 25-26 establish further boundaries. If we are honest, this command prohibiting ungodly desire seems difficult to evaluate, let alone obey. But what if this command is as much promise as prohibition? And what if that promise was the very real possibility of living with a satisfied soul? Maybe it would cause us to say “I want that!” about something far more significant than a wooden ship. Podcast Downloads Date: June 12, 2016 // Title: Promised Land Living: “I Want That!” Scripture: Deuteronomy 5:21 // 25:5 – 26:12 ARRIVAL / SOCIAL TIME 15-20 minutes Spend the first 15 minutes or so of your time together catching up and socializing with one another. Also find time to catch up together on how the assignments from last week turned out. SERMON REVIEW 5-10 minutes The 10th Word, or 10th Commandment, regarding coveting, is unlike the others because it moves beyond the external and focuses on our thoughts, attitudes and desires. While desires are normal and natural, they can also run rampant and cause devastating effects in our lives and the lives of others. If we obey this command, we will live with a satisfied soul in authentic contentedness, not desiring another person’s life, body, job, or stuff. Deuteronomy 26 gives us three specific ways to become content when we are threatened by run-away desire. In fact, many rabbis believe that by obeying the first 9 Words, we will actually find that our reward is a life of the satisfied soul and will result in a full circle as it awakens in us a desire for God. THE MAIN THOUGHT Keep this in mind as you facilitate discussion. The way we find a satisfied soul and a true love of God is by remembering all the ways He’s loved us. SEE IT Questions :: 10-15 minutes Picture (what is the story saying?): Quickly review the couple of examples of desires gone wild from Deuteronomy 25. Chapter 26 gives three solutions for rampant desires. What does it mean to “bring your basket”? What does it mean to “tell your story”? What does it look like to “love your life”? Mirror (where am I in the story?): Where have you seen rampant desire in your own life? How might media affect your desires? When do you feel most susceptible to comparing your life to others? Teddy Roosevelt said, “Comparison is the thief of joy.” How have you experienced that truth in your life? When are you most satisfied? Window (How does the story change how I see the world around me?): It’s easy to look at other’s “Facebook” life and not remember that they also have a “behind the scenes” life as well. How does this passage shape how you view other people’s lives? BE IT – Practice Change UP // Bring Your Basket 5 minutes In a posture of worship, spend time as a group thanking God for the things that you see Him doing in your life. Look for the fruit of His work and verbalize your gratitude. Change IN // Tell Your Story 15 minutes What’s your story with God? Pair up, preferably with someone who doesn’t know your story, and spend time bragging on God and what He’s done for you in the past. Change OUT // Love Your Life 5 minutes Commit to looking for the evidence of God’s handiwork in your own ...

What is the American Dream? Are you living it? Striving for it? Struggling against its demands? For some, the American Dream of success and prosperity has become their great American Destiny. For others, the American Dream has, at times, been more like their American Disappointment. We are in the midst of a presidential election year, which means our leaders and politicians are taking extra care to promise a gilded American destiny while offering various solutions to the very real American disappointments that have generated one of the most polarized voting bases in history. But whether destiny or disappointment, the American Dream holds enormous influence over the way many of us see the world. The book of Deuteronomy, on the other hand, shows us God’s guidelines for Israel to live as an ideal nation reflecting his heart in the land. In that sense, it provides a “Deuteronomic Dream” for God’s people. And this dream continues to echo and resonate with us today. This week, as we read Deuteronomy 22-25 together, I believe God’s word may help us redefine destiny and disappointment in light of God’s dream for his people. Podcast Downloads Date: June 5, 2016 // Title: Promised Land Living: The Deuteronomic Dream Scripture: Deuteronomy 5:18-20 // 22:9-25:4 ARRIVAL / SOCIAL TIME 15-20 minutes Spend the first 15 minutes or so of your time together catching up and socializing with one another. Also find time to catch up together on how the assignments from last week turned out. SERMON REVIEW 5-10 minutes The American Dream holds enormous influence over the way many of us see the world. The book of Deuteronomy, on the other hand, shows us God’s guidelines for Israel to live as an ideal nation reflecting his heart in the land. In that sense, it provides a “Deuteronomic Dream” for God’s people. This dream continues to echo and resonate with us today. We live in the midst of many “tricky mixtures” in our culture, where our kingdom perspective bumps up against the selfishness, selfish ambition and self-deception of our culture. How should we then live? THE MAIN THOUGHT Keep this in mind as you facilitate discussion. Live well by holding on the the tassels of God’s commands. SEE IT Questions :: 10-15 minutes Picture (what is the story saying?): What’s the significance of the tassels? (see Numbers 15) What is at the core of the Deuteronomic Dream? (Word 7) What is the idea of “stealing” in Word 8? What’s another way to explain “false witness”? (Word 9) Mirror (where am I in the story?): ADo I equate success/the American Dream with blessing? Hard work with success? What is God’s plan for my path to joy (happiness)? Window (How does the story change how I see the world around me?): How can we view the American Dream through the lens of the Deuteronomic Dream? How do we display the light of God in the darkness of our nation/neighborhood? BE IT – Practice Change UP // Hold onto the Tassels 5 minutes Spend time in prayer together. Invite the Father to show you any areas of tricky mixtures in your life. Have the leader lead through these individual considerations: Choose to let go of selfishness and hold onto your commitment of marriage and family. Let go of selfish ambition and hold onto generosity. Ask God to help you let go of self-deception and hold onto truth. Change IN // / Pass the Tassel 15 minutes Before group time, find something that has a tassel. Have cards available for individuals to write on. For the exercise, have each person write a command of God that they are choosing to hold onto. Then take turns passing the tassel around the group, as each person reads his declaration.

This weekend is Memorial Day weekend, which is a time for many families to get away, rest, and catch up on spring gardening. But Memorial Day is also a solemn holiday set aside for the remembrance of American soldiers who have died during their service to our country. It has been said, “There are no atheists in foxholes,” but through history many have it was their experience in the foxholes that made them atheists. In fact, the numbing violence of World War I turned a generation of European artists, poets, and scholars away from God as they asked how a benevolent deity could ever permit such atrocity. Fortunately, many of us have little firsthand knowledge of war. But we all have experienced moments of life in which we wonder how a good God could have allowed things to turn out a certain way. In Deuteronomy 20, we find the laws that instruct Israel’s armies in the practice of war. And while these laws are quite humane by the standards of the ancient world, they still can be quite troubling in their content and the violence they permit. What, then, should we do with the complicated things of life–whether situations or Scriptures–that seem to give us reason not to believe? Podcast Downloads Date: May 29, 2016 // Title: Promised Land Living: You Shall Not Murder (Kill) Scripture: Deuteronomy 5:17 // 19:1-22:8 ARRIVAL / SOCIAL TIME 15-20 minutes Spend the first 15 minutes or so of your time together catching up and socializing with one another. Also find time to catch up together on how the assignments from last week turned out. SERMON REVIEW 5-10 minutes Fortunately, many of us have little firsthand knowledge of war. But we all have experienced moments in life in which we wonder how a good God could have allowed things to turn out a certain way. In Deuteronomy 20, we find the laws that instruct Israel’s armies in the practice of war. And while these laws are quite humane by the standards of the ancient world, they still can be quite troubling in their content and the violence they permit. What, then, should we do with the complicated things of life—whether situations or Scriptures—that seem to give us reason not to believe? THE MAIN THOUGHT Keep this in mind as you facilitate discussion. In the Kingdom, you can’t see the forest unless you see the Tree. SEE IT Questions :: 10-15 minutes Picture (what is the story saying?): What is the connotation of “murder” in the Deuteronomy passages? When God gave the Law, what was one thing He was setting up (what was He getting ready to do)? Mirror (where am I in the story?): Are there events in my life that tempt me NOT to believe? When I look at the text itself, what do I learn about the heart of God? What does it show me about His character? Window (How does the story change how I see the world around me?): Are there events in my life that tempt me NOT to believe? When I look at the text itself, what do I learn about the heart of God? What does it show me about His character? BE IT – Practice Change UP // What God has Done 5 minutes In Rahab’s story (Joshua 2) we see that she turns to God because she has heard amazing stories of what He has done. Spend a few minutes speaking out statements of what God has done in the past, reminding yourselves that He can be trusted! He is for you! Change IN // Take it to the Tree 15 minutes Before your group meets, draw a tree (or a cross) on a board or something that is big enough to receive sticky notes during the exercise. Invite each person in the group to list a problem, an anxiety or a battle they have on a sticky note. Read them aloud and then stick them to the tree. As the Spirit leads, have a time of prayer together, naming what is written and choosing to leave those things at the Cross...

“Family” is a loaded word. For some, it means togetherness, healing, generosity, kindness, and love. For others, it means divorce, brokenness, selfishness, anger, and even hatred. At the end of the day, most of us have probably experienced both blessing and wound in our families. This reality raises some difficult questions in light of Deuteronomy’s famous command to “honor your father and your mother” (5:16). Do we honor them without question or criticism? Is there a certain age when this no longer applies? What kind of respect should we expect from our own children? To complicate things further, the corresponding laws in Deuteronomy 16:18-18:22 suggest that the way we answer these questions about our own families inevitably shapes how we view authority throughout society. How should we evaluate and respond to authority figures in our cities, churches, and country? My hope is that Sunday the very old words of Deuteronomy will provide some new insight for us and for the sake of our nation. Podcast Downloads Date: May 22, 2016 // Title: Promised Land Living: Honor, Family, Authority Scripture: Deuteronomy 5:12-15 // Deuteronomy 5:16 // 16:18-18:22 ARRIVAL / SOCIAL TIME 15-20 minutes Spend the first 15 minutes or so of your time together catching up and socializing with one another. Also find time to catch up together on how the assignments from last week turned out. SERMON REVIEW 5-10 minutes When we have a glimpse of how things could be or should be, how do we welcome that into our lives? By honoring it! The word honor is connected to the word “weight,” so we honor something by giving it the weight/value/worth that it’s due. Honor acts as a filter, so honoring our parents or family involves discerning what is valuable and valuing it, while also filtering out what is not good. To do this, we must train our hearts and eyes to honor well. Deuteronomy 16-18 describes for us the kinds of characteristics which we should honor, as Moses talks about good judges, kings, priests, and prophets. THE MAIN THOUGHT Keep this in mind as you facilitate discussion. Honoring is about “weighing” what is weighty, valuing what is of value. SEE IT Questions :: 10-15 minutes Picture (what is the story saying?): What does it mean to honor? What does that look like in practical application? How do we train our hearts and eyes to honor well? Mirror (where am I in the story?): When you hear the words “honor your father and mother,” what have you traditionally believed that to mean? How does Jon’s explanation (honor being a filter to value the valuable) change your understanding? Describe a time in your family when you saw a glimpse (no matter how small) of how things could be/should be. What does honoring look like in your relationship with your parents (if living) and other family members? Window (How does the story change how I see the world around me?): Look at Deut. 16-18 and describe some of the valuable traits of the judges, kings, priests, and prophets. What are some of the traits that we should “filter out”? BE IT – Practice Change UP // Honoring 5 minutes Spend time in quiet contemplation, honoring God—recognizing and appreciating the qualities of God that are weighty, of value, and glorious—His kindness, grace, power, justice, etc. Change IN // Honoring Our Community 15 minutes Give each person a blank sheet of paper and have them write their name on the top of the paper. Then have everyone take turns writing down on each other’s papers the qualities that they appreciate (honor) in them. Change OUT // Honoring Others 5 minutes Consider who you can honor this week. Maybe it’s your parents or someone in authority over you. You might want to write them a letter—an actual handwritten lette...

The movie Rudy is based on the story of a young man name Rudy Ruettiger, who grew up captivated by the dream of playing football at The University of Notre Dame. Unfortunately for Rudy, this dream, for many years, felt like it would never be realized. In the movie, after Rudy receives the last of several rejections on his continued applications into the school, Rudy finds himself wandering into a church, asking God some pretty difficult questions. As Rudy lets Father Cavanaugh into the struggle of his heart, Father Cavanaugh utters these significant words. He says, “Son, in 35 years of religious study, I have only come up with two hard incontrovertible facts: there is a God, and I’m not Him.” I remember hearing those words while watching this movie. I was stunned. It was such a simple truth. But beneath it was such a profound understanding of life. So much of life today could be solved just through these words. In a world running frantic, where everyone has expectations for who we should be, what we should have and what our lives should be about, it’s easy to take life into our own hands and try and solve our own problems and meet our own needs. In other words, we live trying to become our own “god” and don’t understand when things don’t go exactly how we want them to. The problem is that we were never meant to be God. God was. This week we continue our journey through the book of Deuteronomy, by looking at the 4th Command to “Observe the Sabbath Day to keep it holy.” It’s a command that invites us to rest from our work and remember that we are not God. We can’t produce our way into life or meaning. It’s an invitation to remember that we are not human “doings”. We are human “beings”. So by honoring the Sabbath Day we trust that while we are resting that God is working. And that His working produces things we could never produce on our own. It is a command that invites us to remember the freedom that comes from knowing—there is a God and we are not Him. So join us as we learn how to Sabbath together. You might just find that the life you’ve always wanted was closer than you thought. Podcast Downloads Date: May 15, 2016 // Title: Promised Land Living: The Unforced Rhythms of Grace Scripture: Deuteronomy 5:12-15 // Deuteronomy 15-16 ARRIVAL / SOCIAL TIME 15-20 minutes Spend the first 15 minutes or so of your time together catching up and socializing with one another. Also find time to catch up together on how the assignments from last week turned out. SERMON REVIEW 5-10 minutes As we continue our journey in the Ten Commandments, this week we are on a discovery of Sabbath in Deuteronomy 5:12-15//15-16. Sabbath is an invitation from God to recreate how we relax, have relationships, find restoration, rest and use our resources. God is calling us to learn from Him the unforced rhythms of Grace through our free time, our finances and our feasting. Each of these areas calls us into a rhythm of living: not simply living different from the world, but living better than the world. When we join with Him in His call to freedom, we can learn to trust in Him when we rest, when we use our wealth and our celebrations to participate in His better way of living. God’s purpose of creating the Sabbath for us is an intentional action, calling us to remember our past and to create our future. THE MAIN THOUGHT Keep this in mind as you facilitate discussion.Observing the Sabbath is not simply about restricting our activity. It’s about restoring our humanity. SEE IT Questions :: 10-15 minutes Picture (what is the story saying?): What is the heart of the Ten Commandments? Where are the three areas of Sabbath-living that we get to live in freedom? What do we have to do, to allow God to continue to work while we rest? God’s invitation to living is not different than the world it is actually _____...

Year after year, one of my favorite Sundays at Grace is Mother’s Day, especially because so many sweet families dedicate their children to the Lord. This year is even sweeter for me and Amy because we’ll be dedicating sweet Bethany. Somewhere along the line, however, we’ve begun to realize that our little girl will, at some point, grow up and make her way in the world without us making sure she’s strapped into her carseat or sleeping peacefully in our arms. And that’s why we pray and dedicate her into God’s hands, knowing he is the one who can guide her on her way. Even if you aren’t a parent, you know what it’s like to love another person and desire the best for him or her. Our text in Deuteronomy 13-14 this week is, in fact, poignantly appropriate for reflecting on such things. In it, God is telling his people how to make their way in the world so that as they bear his name they also reflect his heart of kindness and care. Podcast Downloads Date: May 8, 2016 // Title: Promised Land Living: God’s Family Name Scripture: Deuteronomy 5:11//12:29–14:29 ARRIVAL / SOCIAL TIME 15-20 minutes Spend the first 15 minutes or so of your time together catching up and socializing with one another. Also find time to catch up together on how the assignments from last week turned out. SERMON REVIEW 5-10 minutes This Sunday we continued our series of Promised Land Living through the book of Deuteronomy. In this week’s passage we learn, in great depth, what it means to not take the name of the Lord in vain.  As we have seen in previous weeks, the bulk of the middle section of Deuteronomy is built as a commentary on each one of the Ten Commandments. In Deuteronomy 12–14, we see just what not taking the name of the Lord in vain (third commandment) might look like. This week, Jon challenged us about what we join the name of God to or place the name of God on. He demonstrated that this third commandment is not simply concerned with the words we say, but even more with the way we live. It challenges us at our very core, inviting us to think about how carrying the name of God with our life affects the company we keep, the culture we consume and the crops (or cash) we contribute. THE MAIN THOUGHT Keep this in mind as you facilitate discussion. Taking God’s name in vain is not just about the words that you say but the way that you live—it’s about who and what you join your life to. SEE IT Questions :: 10-15 minutes Picture (what is the story saying?): What do you normally think of when you hear the Commandment to not take the name of the Lord in vain? How did this week’s message challenge or change your understanding of that? What did Jon say the word “take” referred to? (carry) What did Jon say the word “vain” referred to? (futility, emptiness). What might carrying God’s name with futility or emptiness look like according to this passage? Mirror (where am I in the story?): What have you joined the name of God to in your life that might need to be evaluated? How might this affect the company you keep? How might it affect the culture you consume? How might it affect the things you contribute to? Which of these three—the company you keep, the culture you consume or the things you contribute to—has been most affected by your relationship with God? Which one of those three things might need more attention? Window (How does the story change how I see the world around me?): At the end of Jon’s message, he shared about how the idea of tithing flew in the face of other religions—while other religions assumed their gods needed feeding, the God of Israel used the tithe to invite his people to join him in their abundance. How does this idea change the way you think of God? Of tithing? What would it look like to join God with your best? What parts of your thinking about God need to chang...

I think we’ve all been there. It’s later than we planned, and everyone is hangry.* Cooking at home is not an option because we don’t have groceries and we don’t have time. And so we ask, “Where should we eat?” Fortunately (or unfortunately if you’re indecisive), we live in an area with many, many choices. Most of us are a five-minute drive away from food that’s fast, foreign, and/or fresh. For the people of Israel, however, there were no restaurants during their years of slavery and wandering in the wilderness. There wasn’t even a grocery store. (Unless, I suppose, we count their morning bowl of manna.) But in Deuteronomy, the people are about to enter a land full of options for food and just about everything else, too. In Deuteronomy 12-14, though, God surprisingly enters the “Where should we eat?” conversation with guidance that still has enormous relevance for how we consume in the world around us today. We will see how these chapters relate to the 2nd and 3rd Commandments (Deut. 5:8-11). I can’t promise you’ll leave the gathering knowing where to eat lunch, but I do think we will have plenty to chew on for the coming week. *Hangry is the technical term in our house for hunger-induced anger. Podcast Downloads Date: April 24, 2016 // Title: Promised Land Living: Sh’more Shema Scripture: Deuteronomy 6-11 ARRIVAL / SOCIAL TIME 15-20 minutes Spend the first 15 minutes or so of your time together catching up and socializing with one another. Also find time to catch up together on how the assignments from last week turned out. SERMON REVIEW 5-10 minutes This week we continue our series, Promised Land Living, which takes us through the book of Deuteronomy. Jon walked us through Deuteronomy 6–11 as we looked at loving God as a matter of our heart. The Hebrew view of the heart was that our heart is our life source; it is where we have emotions, it monitors our thoughts and helps to determine our will. It is the very fiber of our soul. There are other things that bid for our heart’s attention. We can have conversations of our hearts that lead us to fear, self-sufficiency and self-righteousness that can pull at us when we experience the wilderness times in our lives. Deuteronomy helps us break the poor habits of the heart and set up the habit of remembering God and all he has done for us. THE MAIN THOUGHT Keep this in mind as you facilitate discussion. Remembering God is a matter of the heart. SEE IT Questions :: 10-15 minutes Picture: Why was the word “heart” used in Deuteronomy? Why do you think that people have a difficult time remembering their stories? What are ways of building habits of freedom in our heart? Mirror: What is the current condition of your heart? What is the conversation that your heart is having? Where have you forgotten that God has blessed you? What is one helpful habit that, with the help of God, could be the keystone habit to change the temptation in your wilderness? Window: Where are the places in your home, work, or neighborhood that you could tell your story of remembering what God has done? BE IT – Practice Change UP // Exercise 10 minutes As we are finding ways of remembering what God has done in the stories of the Bible and in our own life, what is your favorite Bible story that helps show your belief about God? Change IN // Group Activity 5 minutes Looking at your own story, what is one part that you could share that would show how God has worked in your family? Change OUT // God of the Workplace 5 minutes Thinking about other people’s stories, is there one story that you could ask about (and hear) in your workplace, home, neighborhood, or from a friend? CLOSING PRAYER 5 minutes

Some things are easy to forget, like where I left my car keys, buying paper towels at the grocery, and the capital city of Nebraska. Some things are unforgettable, like the birth of our baby daughter, where I was on 9/11, and my wife Amy walking down the aisle at our wedding. And some things should not be forgotten, because they shape the very core of our identity and direction in the world. Unfortunately, these most important things are often the ones we are prone to remember least. But Moses’ words in Deuteronomy 6-11 call out the causes of our forgetfulness and remind us that there is blessing and authentic hope for us who desire to remember the God who has not forgotten us. Podcast Downloads Date: April 24, 2016 // Title: Promised Land Living: Sh’more Shema Scripture: Deuteronomy 6-11 ARRIVAL / SOCIAL TIME 15-20 minutes Spend the first 15 minutes or so of your time together catching up and socializing with one another. Also find time to catch up together on how the assignments from last week turned out. SERMON REVIEW 5-10 minutes This week we continue our series, Promised Land Living, which takes us through the book of Deuteronomy. Jon walked us through Deuteronomy 6–11 as we looked at loving God as a matter of our heart. The Hebrew view of the heart was that our heart is our life source; it is where we have emotions, it monitors our thoughts and helps to determine our will. It is the very fiber of our soul. There are other things that bid for our heart’s attention. We can have conversations of our hearts that lead us to fear, self-sufficiency and self-righteousness that can pull at us when we experience the wilderness times in our lives. Deuteronomy helps us break the poor habits of the heart and set up the habit of remembering God and all he has done for us. THE MAIN THOUGHT Keep this in mind as you facilitate discussion. Remembering God is a matter of the heart. SEE IT Questions :: 10-15 minutes Picture: Why was the word “heart” used in Deuteronomy? Why do you think that people have a difficult time remembering their stories? What are ways of building habits of freedom in our heart? Mirror: What is the current condition of your heart? What is the conversation that your heart is having? Where have you forgotten that God has blessed you? What is one helpful habit that, with the help of God, could be the keystone habit to change the temptation in your wilderness? Window: Where are the places in your home, work, or neighborhood that you could tell your story of remembering what God has done? BE IT – Practice Change UP // Exercise 10 minutes As we are finding ways of remembering what God has done in the stories of the Bible and in our own life, what is your favorite Bible story that helps show your belief about God? Change IN // Group Activity 5 minutes Looking at your own story, what is one part that you could share that would show how God has worked in your family? Change OUT // God of the Workplace 5 minutes Thinking about other people’s stories, is there one story that you could ask about (and hear) in your workplace, home, neighborhood, or from a friend? CLOSING PRAYER 5 minutes Take a few minutes to gather any prayer requests and pray for each other to SEE IT and BE IT this week.

It has been said that the book of Deuteronomy is the heart of the Old Testament. It has been said that the Ten Commandments are the heart of the book of Deuteronomy. And it has been said that the great Shema– Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. –is the heart of all the commandments. In fact, that last one was said by Jesus himself (Matthew 22:40), which means it’s pretty enormously important. We will wrestle with the text that has done more to shape the people of God through history than any other in the entire Old Testament. Podcast Downloads Date: April 17, 2016 // Title: Promised Land Living: Shema Scripture: Deuteronomy 5-6 SERMON REVIEW 5-10 minutes ARRIVAL / SOCIAL TIME 15-20 minutes Spend the first 15 minutes or so of your time together catching up and socializing with one another. Also find time to catch up together on how the assignments from last week turned out. SERMON REVIEW 5-10 minutes This week we continued our series of Promised Land Living through the book of Deuteronomy. Jon helped us see and understand the heart of God behind the commandments. Though there are 613 commands throughout the first five books of the Bible, the Ten Commandments that God gave His people set a standard of life and freedom very different than the life the children of God had experienced in Egypt. But even beyond these Ten Commandments, God desires for the commandments, to help set hearts free. To help us, there is one commandment that if followed will settle all the other commands in our heart—“Hear O Israel: The Lord our God is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” (Deuteronomy 6:4-5) THE MAIN THOUGHT Keep this in mind as you facilitate discussion. The Ten Commandments are given not by a slave driving God who wants to enslave us but by a life delivering God who wants to see us live free. SEE IT Questions :: 10-15 minutes Picture: Have you ever read a part of the Bible that didn’t make sense to you? Which part? Have you ever struggled to make sense of some of the commands in Scripture? Which ones? How did Jon’s sermon this week help you make sense of some of those commands? Mirror: Jon said the Ten Commandments help us answer two questions: 1. What does God want for me? 2. What does God want from me? Which of these two questions is most difficult for you to answer? How do the Ten Commandments address these two questions? How does God’s heart for freedom (that stands behind these commands) affect these questions? How does thinking about the commandments as opportunities for freedom (Promised Land) instead of slavery (Egypt) change the way you think about the Ten Commandments? Which part of the freedom of the Ten Commandments are you having trouble living into most? Window: The Shema (Deuteronomy 6:4-5) helps us hear the heart of all Ten Commandments by learning to love God with all our heart, soul and strength—so what does loving God look like to you? How do the Ten Commandments help you flesh out what love for God looks like? How do you love God with you heart? How do you love God with your soul? How do you love God with your strength? BE IT – Practice Change UP // The 10 Graces 10 minutes Take a moment to think through the Ten Commandments as a group by identifying together the grace and freedom that stands behind each one of them. Do this by completing the following statement for each commandment: Because you are (insert grace or freedom of God)…I will (insert command). Below are a couple examples to get you started: Because you are totally unique…I will (have no other Gods before you).

“Watch your words!” I’ve heard many parents say this to their children, almost always in the aftermath of some surprisingly cutting or colorful phrase. Sometimes I wonder how it’s possible to watch something invisible like words, but I’m pretty sure most children don’t have time for such reflection in the midst of the context clues and their parents’ tone of voice. Deuteronomy is deeply concerned with words. In fact, as we learned last week, the Jewish community uses the first words of Deuteronomy’s opening verse as its title: “These Are the Words.” Again and again (no fewer than 16 times), this book reminds us that the words we must watch most closely are what God spoke “out of the fire” to his people at Mt. Sinai. The people could barely bear to hear these words, but their truth contained the keys to their future. See you Sunday as we “watch” these words with fresh eyes and ears. Podcast Downloads Date: April 10, 2016 // Title: Out of the Fire Scripture: Deuteronomy 2-5 SERMON REVIEW 5-10 minutes ARRIVAL / SOCIAL TIME 15-20 minutes Spend the first 15 minutes or so of your time together catching up and socializing with one another. Also find time to catch up together on how the assignments from last week turned out. SERMON REVIEW 5-10 minutes In this passage, Moses reminds the Israelites of their final years in the Desert and their victory over two kings, Sihon and Og. Then he reminds them of their experience at Horeb (Mt. Sinai) when God spoke to them out of the fire, giving them the Ten Commandments. Obedience is commanded and idolatry forbidden, but not merely for the sake of adherence. No, Moses wants them to understand the “why.” Obedience stems from an awe of the greatness of God, a God who performs miraculous signs and wonders, who saves with a mighty hand. “You were shown these things so that you might know that the LORD is God; besides him there is no other.” (Deut. 4:35). Obedience, then, to this kind of God is a no-brainer. And creating an idol? Out of the question. Moses tells them that “God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.” A mystery, this “fire” imagery that Moses describes—God is a fire and speaks out of fire (Deut 4:12, 15, 24, 33, 36). THE MAIN THOUGHT Keep this in mind as you facilitate discussion. The LORD is God; besides him there is no other. SEE IT Questions :: 10-15 minutes Picture: What was the significance of the mention of the size of King Og’s bed? (Hint: giant) What was the purpose of Moses retelling these stories? (Deut. 4:9-10) What are the positive properties of fire? What are the dangerous qualities? How is God like fire? (Review verses mentioned in Sermon Review.) Mirror: When have you experienced the nearness of God (Deut. 4:7)? How do you handle the mystery of God? In other words, are you able to accept the mystery, or do you find yourself idolizing other things (money, relationships, work, etc.)? Window: How does reminding yourself of God’s mighty acts change the way you see the world around you—your job, the political climate, your family, ministry opportunities? BE IT – Practice Change UP // Worship 10 minutes Spend time in prayer as a group, specifically thanking God for the mighty acts He’s performed in your lives. Thank Him that He is bigger than any giant you encounter. Change IN // Living it Out 5 minutes Moses asks several rhetorical questions in this passage. (Deut. 4: 7, 8, 32, 33, 34) Have a leader ask the rest of your group each question, pausing for an answer from the group. (“What other nation…?” “No nation.”) Change OUT // Praying it Forward 5 minutes

It is the book that Moses gave to his journey-weary people as they moved into the Promised Land after forty years of wilderness living. It is the book that shaped the words of the prophets, psalmists, and scribes throughout the Old Testament. It is the book that was rediscovered and triggered major revival in Israel during the reign of King Josiah. It is the book that Jesus quoted more than any other. This spring, we invite you to journey through the book of Deuteronomy together. These sacred words teach us how to be a community of people who love God and love one another with concrete practicality in the midst of a complicated, anti-God culture. It is the book that can lead us into God’s way of Promised Land Living. Podcast Downloads Date: April 3, 2016 // Title: Faith Forward Scripture: Deuteronomy 1 SERMON REVIEW 5-10 minutes ARRIVAL / SOCIAL TIME 15-20 minutes Spend the first 15 minutes or so of your time together catching up and socializing with one another. Also find time to catch up together on how the assignments from last week turned out. SERMON REVIEW 5-10 minutes Deuteronomy is a guide for us to know how to live in this land; it shows us how to move from the desert to abundance. In this opening chapter, we see Moses reminding the people of God’s faithfulness, and we see the people respond with fearfulness, faithlessness, and foolhardiness. God did not see “Amen” in them! They had lost the ability to recognize the goodness of God. THE MAIN THOUGHT Keep this in mind as you facilitate discussion. Success hinges entirely on our relationship with God. SEE IT Questions :: 10-15 minutes Picture: When we see lists of names in the Old Testament, what can we remember? Why did God include them in the scriptures? Why does Moses retell their story to the children of Israel? Where do we see Jesus saying “Amen” to God’s plan? Mirror: Jon showed an image of a list of names that are significant in his and Amy’s relationship. What are some names that are significant in your story? As you look out toward the Promised Land, what do you look forward to? How can you show that you’re saying “Amen” to God- showing faith in what He as done and is going to do? Window: As you look around you, do you see giants in the land? Does that stir up anxiety in you? Or do you see God’s faithfulness and choose to say “Amen” to that? BE IT – Practice Change UP // Look Back 10 minutes Let’s spend some time identifying acts of grace in our lives and give thanks to God. Put on a worship song and speak out evidences of God’s grace as the music plays. Change IN // Look Present 15 minutes Deuteronomy means, “These are the words.” What word from the Lord does He want you to believe? Give everyone a blank card or sheet of paper. Set a timer for three minutes. During this time, have each person write down an area of their life where they sense God asking for an “Amen” from them—something He is calling them into. Have them write that thing on the card. Change OUT // Look Forward 5 minutes Designate a line on the floor to symbolize the border of the Promised Land. At the end of the three minutes, have each person take turns reading their card and saying, “Amen” to God as a proclamation of submission to God’s plan and promise. As a symbol of stepping into that “Amen,” have each person place his or her card in a bowl or on the floor, over the Promised Land line. CLOSING PRAYER 5 minutes Take a few minutes to gather any prayer requests and pray for each other to SEE IT and BE IT this week.

Not long ago, I woke up in the middle of the night with a startling question in my mind: Where in the world am I? I think most of us are familiar with that feeling. And usually, we remember the answer quickly: Oh, I’m just at home. Or, I’m just napping on my in-laws’ couch. Or, I’m just in a hotel in Kansas City. Every once in a while, however, we are surprised to wake up in an absolutely delightful place. One time, my family and I drove late into the night to get to the beach. The next morning at dawn, I woke up with a jolt, wondering where I was. Then I heard the sweet sound of waves outside and remembered: I’m at the beach! According to each of the four Gospels, the women who came to visit the tomb of Jesus that first Easter arrived near dawn. But they did not find what they expected. They were “alarmed” to discover the tomb was empty and an angel was waiting nearby (Mark 16:5). Surely, each of them wondered: Where in the world is Jesus? The angel’s calm response brought the answer: “He has risen; he is not here.” This news meant the women had awakened in a world that was fundamentally different from the one in which they had gone to sleep the night before. And from that day until now, the story of Easter awakens us afresh to the sometimes jolting and always delightful reality that Jesus has risen. Podcast Downloads Date: March 27, 2016 // Title: Awake Scripture: Mark 16:1-8 SERMON REVIEW 5-10 minutes ARRIVAL / SOCIAL TIME 15-20 minutes Spend the first 15 minutes or so of your time together catching up and socializing with one another. Also find time to catch up together on how the assignments from last week turned out. SERMON REVIEW 5-10 minutes Where in the world was Jesus? This was the question people were asking about the One who came on the scene teaching and healing. Jesus had launched a kingdom revolution which offered tangible alternatives to political oppression and the advocates of empty religion. Opposition naturally rose up among the religious leaders. Surprisingly, Jesus’ opposition also included one of his own followers, as Judas betrayed him. Even Peter denied Jesus three times. Jesus was arrested, put on trial, sentenced, beaten and nailed to a cross, where He died. Even as He cried out, “it is finished,” people began to wake up to the reality of who Jesus really is. The centurion proclaimed that “surely, this man was the Son of God.” Joseph, as a member of the Sanhedrin, risked his reputation and pleaded for the body of Jesus and laid him in a new tomb of stone. After the long and silent Sabbath rest, the ladies were alerted and jarred into action when the angels told them to go and say to the disciples, and to Peter, that Jesus is risen. After revealing himself to his followers, Jesus spent 40 days with his disciples reminding them of the first fruits of what was to come—a world of promises fulfilled where everything is fundamentally different. Jesus is inviting us now, just as He invited his disciples then, into deeper discipleship, joining him where He is at work, and announcing the promise of immediate redemption, confident expectation and hope for the future. THE MAIN THOUGHT Keep this in mind as you facilitate discussion. Do not be alarmed! He is risen! Awake, O sleepers, and rise by his Spirit into resurrection life and wholehearted service to the victorious King.  He is risen indeed! SEE IT Questions :: 10-15 minutes Picture: Who were the first ones to awaken to the reality of who Jesus is? What was their reaction like? How did Jesus show special care, especially for the ones who needed to hear the Good News the most, in the way He alerted his followers to action? What was the challenge Jesus gave in fulfilling his promise of new life, both now and to come?

This week is Palm Sunday, which celebrates Jesus’ humble entry on a donkey into Jerusalem the week before his death. But when Jesus saw the city in the midst of all the shouts of welcome and praise, he did something unexpected. He wept, for he knew the city would reject him. Jesus’ lament over the city is haunting–“If you had known in this day, even you, the things that make for peace” (Luke 19:42). I just returned from Israel this week, and the city of Jerusalem continues to be saturated in conflict as Arabs and Jews (and Christians and Muslims) all struggle to find peace. Yet Jesus’ words still apply–it seems that so many do not know the “things that make for peace.” We, too, experience conflict in our lives. We don’t have to look far to find it in our own families or friendships or workplaces or culture or politics. What is your strategy for peace? And–to borrow Jesus’ phrase–do you know the “things that make for peace?” Podcast Downloads Date: March 20, 2016 // Title: Palm Sunday: The King’s Visitation Scripture: Luke 19:28-44 SERMON REVIEW 5-10 minutes ARRIVAL / SOCIAL TIME 15-20 minutes Spend the first 15 minutes or so of your time together catching up and socializing with one another. Also find time to catch up together on how the assignments from last week turned out. SERMON REVIEW 5-10 minutes Luke’s version of the Triumphal Entry shows us two scenes side by side: Jesus riding on a donkey into Jerusalem and Jesus weeping over the city. We see humanity divided—their expectations shaping their abilities to see God at work; a city doomed— unable to recognize the things that made for peace; and the King coming to His destiny, the “kairos” moment when God intersects with time. THE MAIN THOUGHT Keep this in mind as you facilitate discussion. Peace is not the absence of conflict but the presence of wholeness. SEE IT Questions :: 10-15 minutes Picture: Why do you think Luke recorded these two stories back-to-back in his gospel? What story is he telling? How did the disciples’ expectation shape their ability to see what was happening? Conversely, how did the Pharisee’s expectation reveal what they thought was happening? Mirror: Do I recognize Jesus as King? How might my culture be shaping my expectation/ability to recognize what is truly good? We long for peace: the presence of wholeness. How am I pursuing it? What is my strategy? Window: How can you practice recognizing the things that make for peace? How can you press into those things in your sphere of influence? BE IT – Practice Change UP // Exercise 15 minutes Create space to listen to God. Imagine that He is looking over your life (like Jesus stood and looked over Jerusalem in the passage). What might He weep over? What might He be coming to visit? Ask Him to open your eyes so you can see what He is doing and the things that will lead you to Him. Write down what He says to you. Peace is the presence of wholeness. Jesus is your peace! Let Him bring wholeness into areas of brokenness. Change IN // Group Activity 5 minutes We invite you into an activity known as Passing the Peace. From the beginning Christians have exercised this practice. “Peace be with you” is a greeting Jesus himself used with his disciples (Luke 24:36; John 20:19, 26). The apostle Paul opened each of his letters with the words “Grace and peace be with you” (Rom. 1:7; 1 Cor. 1:3; 2 Cor. 1:2). Have each person identify one area where they need the peace passed to AND one area they are able to pass the peace to someone else. Think of it in terms of these areas: personal, family, work, national, and global. Take turns sharing those things and Passing the Peace to each other, saying, “Peace be with you.” Then reply,

For the last several years, we’ve taken teams of people from Grace to the Holy Land annually for a trip we call EPIC. On EPIC, one of my favorite visits is to modern-day Nablus, where a small church sits over the original site of Jacob’s well. In a small grotto beneath the sanctuary of the church is mouth of the very same well where Jesus met a Samaritan woman in John 4! To this day, visitors can draw water and drink it straight from the source. The water is sweet and delicious. Almost 2,000 years ago, Jesus asked for a drink from the woman he’d just met and then offered her “living water.” What kind of water could be better than that of Jacob’s well? And what happens when someone drinks it? Downloads