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//Hope in Relationships

Background Noise…living proof of our need for hope.
Week 4: Hope in Relationships
February 28, 2010
Pastor Jon Hand
Luke 14:25-34

Podcast Listen to Sermon: Hope in Relationships

1 Peter 3:1-5
Wives, in the same way submit yourselves to your own husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, when they see the purity and reverence of your lives. Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight. For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to adorn themselves. They submitted themselves to their own husbands,

1 Corinthians 7:12-16
To the rest I say this (I, not the Lord): If any brother has a wife who is not a believer and she is willing to live with him, he must not divorce her. And if a woman has a husband who is not a believer and he is willing to live with her, she must not divorce him. For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy. But if the unbeliever leaves, let it be so. The brother or sister is not bound in such circumstances; God has called us to live in peace. How do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or, how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?

Questions for you to ponder during today’s talk.

  1. What hope do these passages offer for our relationships, if our hope is in God?
  2. How do these passages challenge our typical views of relationships?
Community Group Discussion Guide

Getting Started
While God intended our relationships with others to be wonderful and beautiful experiences, sin often enters in and distorts them, sometimes to the point of breaking them. The problem is that sin shifts the locus of our identity from God to ourselves or to others.

  1. Consider the person whose identity is wrapped up in another person. What motivates her? What is her primary concern? How would you describe this person? What kind of problems does this attitude create in relationships?
  2. Consider the person who is self-sufficient and doesn’t need anyone else. What motivates him? What is his primary concern? How would you describe this person? What kind of problems does this attitude create in relationships?

From the Book

  1. Read Matthew 10:37-39. What is Jesus saying to the person who locates their identity in another person? What is Jesus saying to the person who is living for himself?
  2. Read Galatians 2:20 and Ephesians 2:1-10. What does it mean to be crucified with Christ? What does it look like to live “by faith in the Son of God” and to be “alive in Christ?” If we lived in this way, what impact would it have on our relationships?
  3. Read Colossians 1:3-6a. According to this passage, where did the Colossians’ “love for all the saints” come from? If God were truly the source of our love, what hope would that give us in our relationships? How would it change the self-sufficient person? How would it change the overly dependent person?

So What?

  1. ROLE PLAY ACTIVITY: In your community group, count off by threes. All of the ones will play a self-sufficient person, the twos will play a dependent person, and the threes a person whose identity is rooted in God. Pair off with someone who is playing a different role, and then choose one of the following scenarios to role-play: (a) A husband and wife who disagree about the best way to discipline a rebellious child (b) Best friends where one has started dating someone the other thinks is bad for them (c) Siblings - one is more ambitious than the other and is trying to convince them to “do something” with their life.
  2. Write down Ephesians 3:16-19 on a small piece of paper. Carry this prayer with you all week, remembering to pray it for yourself and others. Think about the hope you would have for relationships if God were to truly answer this prayer.
Posted on February 28, 2010 – 2:51 pm
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//Hope in uncertainty and change

Background Noise…living proof of our need for hope.
Week 3: Hope in uncertainty and change
February 21, 2010
Pastor Jon Hand
Isaiah 43

Podcast Listen to Sermon: Hope in uncertainty and change

Questions for you to ponder during today’s talk.

  1. What are you most afraid of as you think of change or uncertainty in your life?
  2. How could knowing God’s vision of the future give you confidence, stability, and hope in your present circumstances?
  3. How would your attitude be different if you could trust God with your fears and anxiety as you face uncertainty and change?
Posted on February 21, 2010 – 10:01 pm
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//Suffering and Hope

Background Noise…living proof of our need for hope.
Week 2: Suffering and Hope
February 14, 2010
Pastor Jon Hand
Romans 8

Podcast Listen to Sermon: Suffering and Hope

Questions for you to ponder during today’s talk.

  1. Is hope growing in you?
  2. According to the bible what ultimately causes suffering?
  3. The early Jesus followers risked death and died taking care of the sick during the plagues of Rome? How did their hope motivate them to make such a sacrifice for people who didn’t even share their beliefs?
  4. How is hope demonstrated in your life?
  5. How is lack of hope demonstrated in your life? The only way to tell is to reflect on what happens to you when you are stressed, in a crisis, experience loss, or deep disappointment.
  6. How could your family, your career, your church, your marriage, your attitude, your relationships be different if you were growing in hope?

Book:
Where is God when it Hurts–Philip Yancey. This is a classic book on suffering, God, good, and evil? It seeks to cut to the heart of the classic arguments about God and suffering. How can God be good and allow suffering? How can God be all powerful and not stop it? Ticked at God or know someone who is because of suffering in their past? Read or recommend this book.

Community Group Discussion Guide

Getting Started

  1. Consider the following quote: “Hope in a glorious future gives us a deep and driving motivation to persevere through present difficulties and to make the hard, almost impossible decision to continue on our narrow path.” Do you think this is true? How have you seen hope sustain and motivate someone who was suffering? Have you experienced this yourself?
  2. How can having a personal hope in God change our attitudes and motivations when times are tough?

From the Book

  1. Read Genesis 2-3. God originally created us to be in relationship with Him, but our disobedience has caused a break in that relationship. How has this resulted in suffering? How has your own broken relationship with God resulted in suffering?
  2. Read Romans 8:18-32. What is the hope and expectation that Paul is writing about here? What resources does God provide us with as we wait hopefully? What is the anchor of our hope?

So What?

Take some time to consider God’s vision of the future. What will it be like to have a new body, free from decay and disease? How wonderful will the world be without violence and destruction? What will it be like to live without fear and anxiety, and in a very present and real communion with God? Allow God’s vision of a new body, a new earth, and eternal goodness to grow in you a longing for that day. May that hope carry you through the temporary trials you experience here and now.

Posted on February 14, 2010 – 4:20 pm
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//Hope for screw ups

Background Noise…living proof of our need for hope.
Week 1: Hope for screw ups.
February 7, 2010
Pastor Jon Hand
Colossians 1

Podcast Listen to Sermon: Hope for screw ups

Description
Ever meet someone who always had to have background noise in their life? They can’t study or eat dinner or even sleep without music or t.v. or some noise running in the background. Our souls have white noise running in the background and most of the time we don’t even realize the constant interference. Economic downturns, disasters in Haiti, life disappointments, death, and a whole host of other things not going our way can often turn into background noise in our soul—making us jaded and cynical about life itself. It’s easy for us to lose hope. Throughout the New Testament people compelled by Jesus find hope is something that just sort of spills out of their lives. Life is too short to let the background noise win!

Dig Deeper

For Starters: Counterfeit God’s: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope That Matters — Tim Keller — This book is an easy to read book on what is hope, where it comes from, and how most things we think give us hope–don’t. It’s an honest reflection on what we place our hope in. Don’t read this book if you don’t want to be challenged!!

For heavy hitters: Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church– N.T. Wright–This is a rich theological book on how a Christian view of heaven and the afterlife gives us hope in the everyday grind of life.

Watch the movie Seven Pounds - Watch the movie Seven Pounds and discuss how Will Smith’s sacrifice is a symbol for what Jesus did for us?

 

Community Group Discussion Guide

Getting Started

1. What literal background noise do you have in your life (e.g. music, AC unit, refrigerator, etc.)? Do you ever have times when you find spaces free from this noise? If so, what’s it like?

2. When have you experienced failure? How did you react? What is your perspective on that experience now?

3. What does our culture teach us about failure? What do you think is God’s perspective on failure?

From the Book

1. Break into three groups and each read one of the following passages: (1) John 4:1-38 (2) John 13:31-38, 18:15-18, 18:25-27, 21:1-19 (3) Luke 15:11-32 For each of these passages, who is the person who has experienced failure? What was the failure? What is Jesus’ reaction to their failure? In light of these stories, what can we learn about God’s perspective on failure?

2. Jon said that often those who have sinned the most are the ones most eager for hope and open to God. Do you think this is true? Read Luke 7:36-50. What do you think Jesus meant when he said, “But he who has been forgiven little loves little?” Do you see yourself as someone who has been forgiven much or forgiven little?

3. Read Colossians 1:3-5, 21-23, 27-29. In these verses, what hope is Paul writing about? How did the people from Colosse come to experience this hope? What was the fruit of this hope?

So What

1. As Christians, what is our hope …for our past failures? …for our present lives? …for the future?

2. If you were 100% sure that Jesus was raised from the dead and that He would one day return to establish a new and perfect world, how would that change the way you live? What difference would it make …in the way you think about work? …in your relationships with other people? …in how you choose to spend your time? Pray every day this week that God would show you the truth about the resurrection of Jesus.

Posted on February 7, 2010 – 9:34 am
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//Daily Development

Cover Bands Don’t Change the World - Daily Development
January 31, 2010
Pastor Jon Hand
1 Timothy 4:9-16

Podcast Listen to Sermon: Cover Bands Don’t Change the World - Daily Development

Books:
The Holy Longing - Ronald Rolheiser - This book cuts to the core of what drives and feeds our souls as humans. If you want to know why to pray and how to develop an Jesus-shaped imagination of how life could be–read this book.

The Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable. - Godin’s books seem to be about business, but really they apply to life. Living as a follower of Jesus turns you into a Purple Cow. Read the book and you’ll get what I’m saying.

The Story we Find Ourselves In - Brian McLaren - This is a book designed to invite you into the story of the Bible. The book is a fictional story of real people with real questions about God and how God’s Story works in our lives…or is it we work in God’s story?

Community Group Discussion Guide

Getting Started

1. Have you ever had the experience of meeting an old friend, perhaps someone you went to high school with, and you were surprised by how they had changed (or not changed)? What surprised you?

2. Have you seen a spouse, friend, or family member change significantly over a period of time? What were the most significant contributing factors to their change?

From the Book

1. Read 1 Timothy 4:6-16 First Timothy is a letter from Paul, a major leader in the early church, to Timothy, a young man who Paul was mentoring in the faith. What advice does Paul give Timothy in this passage? In verse 7, what do you think he means by, “Train yourself to be godly.”? What might this look like in our lives.

2. Read John 16:5-15 This passage records some of the things that Jesus said a few days before he died. Who is the “Counselor” that Jesus is talking about here? What is Jesus promising? In verse 13, what do you think it means that, “He will guide you into all truth?” What does this mean for us as we seek to be more like Jesus? How have you experienced the Holy Spirit leading you into truth and helping you become more like Jesus? RULE OF THUMB: You can be fairly confident that the Spirit is working in you when you find yourself choosing the Jesus route in a way that doesn’t come natural to you. How you respond to a disappointment. How you respond to a temptation. Feeling prompted or compelled to sacrifice for someone. Experiencing humility. Experiencing love for someone you would not normally be open to. etc.

So What?

Choose one activity from the following list to practice daily for the next 2 weeks. Tell your group which one you choose, and talk about your experiences the next time you meet together.

- Take 5-10 minutes each day to talk to God about any problems you might be experiencing. Ask God to show you how to act, and write down any thoughts or impressions you may have.
- Talk with someone else about what’s going on in your spiritual life. Tell them about your struggles and/or the good things.
- Pray for 10 minutes each day. Ask God to change you, and listen for anything he might be saying to you.
- Read one chapter from John each day. Ask God to talk to you, and do whatever you feel like He’s telling you.
- Before you go to bed at night, take a few minutes to thank God for all of the good things that happened that day. Make a practice of admitting to God those things that were selfish, prideful, judgmental, done in anger, motivated by fear of what other’s think of you. Admitting these to God is not about appeasing his wrath, it’s about humbling ourselves and seeking relational honesty with God. Invite God to replace your sin with love for him, love for yourself, love for others. Express willingness for God to use your Daily Development to transform you to become more like Jesus from the inside out.

Posted on January 31, 2010 – 2:55 pm
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//Combination of Spirit and Flesh

Cover Bands Don’t Change the World - Combination of Spirit and Flesh
January 24, 2010
Pastor Jon Hand

Podcast Listen to Sermon: Cover Bands Don’t Change the World - Combination of Spirit and Flesh

Books for digging deeper to integrate the Spiritual and the Physical.
Sex–Sex God- Rob Bell
Marriage–Love and Respect - Emerson Eggerichs
Work–God at Work: Your Christian Vocation in all of Life - Gene Edward Veith
Creativity–The Complete Artist Way: Creativity as a Spiritual Practice - Julia Cameron

Community Group Discussion Guide

Getting Started

1. Talk about a time when you felt you were especially creative, or a time when you witnessed someone else creatively approaching a situation. What made it so creative?
2. Jon talked about creativity often being the joining of two different ideas to make something new and unique. What are some examples of this? How can this idea be applied to our lives of faith?

From the Book

1. Read Luke 3:7-14. When the people ask John the Baptist what they need to do to live a life of repentance, what does he tell them? What might this mean for a “secular” person? What might this mean for a “religious” person?
2. Read Matthew 9:9-13. How is Jesus being creative in this situation? What makes it so creative?

What are the results?

3. Do you agree with the following quote? If so, what does this mean for our lives?
“Spirituality in human beings is not an extra or “superior” mode of existence. It’s not a hidden stream of separate reality, a separate life running parallel to our bodily existence. It does not consist of special ‘inward’ acts even though it has an inner aspect. It is, rather, a relationship of our embodied selves to God that has the natural and irrepressible effect of making us alive to the Kingdom of God - here and now in the material world.” - Dallas Willard

So What?

1. Consider the following areas of your life: Career, Family, Love Life, Health, Faith, Mind, Finances, Friends. Which area do you have the hardest time seeing God involved in? Take some time to pray about that area. Invite God to show you how to creatively involve Him in that area of your life. If you like, talk about about it with someone you trust.
2. Who are the “tax collectors” in your life. How can you creatively engage them with the love of Christ?

Posted on January 24, 2010 – 11:46 am
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//Apprentices

Cover Bands Don’t Change the World - Apprentices
January 17, 2010
Pastor Jon Hand
John 5

Cover Bands Don't Change the World

Podcast Listen to Sermon: Cover Bands Don’t Change the World - Apprentices

Posted on January 17, 2010 – 11:14 am
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//Creative Community - Baptism

Creative Community: Baptism
January 10, 2010
Pastor Jon Hand
Romans 6

Podcast Listen to Sermon: Creative Community: Baptism

Posted on January 10, 2010 – 2:37 pm
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//Living Creatively in Mundane Life

Cover Bands Don’t Change the World - Living Creatively in Mundane Life
January 3, 2010
Pastor Jon Hand
Ephesians 2

Podcast Listen to Sermon: Cover Bands Don’t Change the World - Living Creatively in Mundane Life

Posted on January 3, 2010 – 1:18 pm
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//Magi

Going All In - Magi
December 27, 2009
Pastor Jon Hand

Podcast Listen to Sermon: Going All In - Magi

Posted on December 27, 2009 – 1:09 pm
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