LG Weekly Challenge

Life Group Family & Friends:

That was an awesome class on Saturday.  Really enjoyed the great social time in the café followed by very comfortable couches for worshiping and discussing God’s word.  Our lesson revolved around reconciliation.  God the Father used God the Son to reconcile us back to Him.  Paul says that we were alienated from God.  We were enemies of God.  But through the sacrificial blood of our savior, we have been reconciled, holy, without blame, free from accusation, without blemish.

The challenge for the week has 2 parts.

Identify someone at work, in your family, in your neighborhood that needs to be reconciled with God.  Write down their name.  Place the name in a prominent place.  Pray for the lost soul.

Ask God the Spirit to put someone on your mind that you need to reconcile a relationship with.  Maybe you need to ask forgiveness.  Maybe you need to forgive.  Do you need to take the first step?

Be intentional.

Travis

Weekly Challenge

Great class last night on our continued journey through Colossians to discover " The Supremacy of Christ". One of the topics we discussed and all agreed upon was the fact that it is on us to learn what His supremacy is so we can be equipped to go out into our community that we interact with everyday, to live and speak according to the living word of our Heavenly Father.

We looked at many different descriptions, characteristics and promises that Jesus Christ himself was and is that we're given by His Father. These 7 categories were ones to call upon in times when we are confronted in our daily walk.

- Image of God

- Firstborn over all creation

- Creator of the Universe

- Head of the Church

- Firstborn among the dead

- God's fullness dwells in Him

- Reconcile to Himself all things

 

My challenge to all of us this week is to step out with someone that walks in your daily path that you know is not a believer and strike up a conversation if you can. For those of you that don't have someone like this in your daily walk. Pick one of the topics and have the discussion at dinner with your family but, start the dinner with "Why do you believe in Jesus?". Then take the time to reassure each of your family members the promise of the topic you chose. Thanks to Aaron and Travis for letting me lead the discussion this week and thank you to the people of our community for sharing Christ in your daily walk!

~ Will

Weekly Challenge

Life Group Family & Friends:
We finished week 2 of our Colossians study.  We focused on 4 characteristics of worthy, obedient living.
1. Bearing fruit in every good work.
2. Growing in the knowledge of God.
3. Being strengthened with all power.
4. Giving thanks to the Father.

We had a great discussion on how to achieve those tasks outlined by Paul.  Thank you for the insight. 

In Colossians 1: 9-14, Paul says we have a purpose and we need to follow the will of our creator.  We concluded that we use the Holy Spirit (or God the Spirit) to reveal and gain knowledge. 

My challenge to you this week is to talk with your family about the prevalence of the Holy Spirit in your life.  One very good resource is the book, Forgotten God by Francis Chan.  Forgotten God
Get the book from the LP bookstore or library.  You can also find it at (List of online bookstores)


Be intentional this week.
Travis

Weekly Challange

Life Group Family & Friends:

That was a great start to our new Colossians series.  During our background review of the letter, we learned the following:

·         When was it written?   60 AD
·         Who was the author?  Paul
·         Where was Paul when writing the letter?       Rome.  Prison.
·         Where is Colossae?    Turkey
·         What is the theme of Colossians?      The power of the gospel message.  The supremacy of Christ.

We will review these facts for the first several weeks.

In our 8 verse intro to Colossians, we heard about giving thanks to God, how our lives should bear fruit, be in constant prayer, make disciples, we have hope through Jesus, the gospel is truth, and we are responsible for sharing our faith with others. 

My challenge to you this week is related to Colossians 1:6.  Paul says that the gospel was bearing fruit and growing among them.  How is the gospel bearing fruit in your life?  In our LG?  In our church?

Be intentional this week.

Travis

Weekly Challenge

                                           

 

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas.  Life Group will be back in session this coming Saturday, can't wait to see everyone again!  Over the next 5 months we will be studying the book of Colossians.  Taking this much time to go through one of Paul's letters together is going to be awesome so buckle up and get ready for a great ride!

The Challenge:
Read Colossians

The Bonus Challenge:
Read it again, ponder it, talk about it with others

In Him,
Aaron

January Family Devotionals

We are picking back up with the "Mealtime Moments" from Focus on the Family this month! Once again, I encourage you to find one night, each week, for your family to sit at the table and enjoy a meal together. This month we are going to choose from the "Wisdom from the Bible" category. There are eight different devotionals for this category. Look through these devotionals in advance and choose the five you would like to do with your family through out the month. A few of them require  preparation. If you find time to do more than one a week, even better! We will work our way through all the categories during 2013.
http://www.focusonthefamily.com/parenting/spiritual_growth_for_kids/family_mealtime_devotionals/wisdom_from_the_bible.aspx
Here's a reminder on how these mealtime devotionals work:
After announcing the title, read the Mealtime Prayer suggestion and have one of your children pray. Then read the Appetizer. The Appetizer is just that, something to wet your appetite for more.
Follow it with the Main Course. This contains the "meat" of the section. Once you've given your family something to chew on, it's time for Table Talk. These challenging questions will make your kids think about what they have just learned and explain how to apply it to their daily lives. Finally, end with Vitamins and Minerals, a Bible verse that relates to the day's reading and discussion. You can even memorize the verse as a family each week.



 

Most of all enjoy your time together as a family, while being intentional about training them in the ways of the Lord.

Crystal (:

Weekly Challenge

HOPE THROUGH MARY

What a finale!  I hope you have enjoyed this enlightening mini-series on the stories of these five amazing women found in the genealogy of Jesus.

Mary displayed unparalleled faith in a God who asked her to undertake a most heavy task.  However, in prophetic fashion she knew that God's commands were not burdensome as we learned in 1 John 5:3-4.  Mary trusted in God's promises...promises that were given hundreds of years before her time.  We also can have this faith, we need only immerse ourselves in His promises.  In Christ we have victory.

THE CHALLENGE:
Today we light the 3rd candle of Advent, the candle of joy.  As you light your candles this week, talk about the promises of God for which we anxiously await.  Talk about how holding on to His promises can give us joy in our day to day lives.

In Him,
Aaron