Weekly Challenge

Life Group Family & Friends:

This was a very enjoyable week for me while preparing this lesson on spiritual gifts.  We had 16 members of our LG complete the spiritual gifts survey, we had a men's prayer meeting before church, and it was incredible watching our life group discuss the purpose of spiritual gifts.  The realization of each of us being used by God for His glory was special to be a part of on Saturday.  We are the body, a special mural.

Paul gave us 3 purposes for spiritual gifts:
1.  Prepare God's people for works of service
2.  Build up the body of Christ
3.  So that we all might become mature believers

My challenge to you this week is to ask God to talk to you about your spiritual gifts.  Then listen.
Know that you are gifted.  Believe that you are different from the world.  Where can you serve?  What are your gifts? How is your life different because of these gifts?  How can you rely on God the Spirit?

Be Intentional.
Travis

Life Group Weekly Challenge

LG Family & Friends:

Great discussion on Saturday night.  When I have sections of my outline that we do not use during class, that means we had a lot of discussion in LG.   I had another 30 minutes of material to cover in my lesson.  I prefer to have the discussion rather than me talking.  Especially when I tell a story about Rasputin and I hear a lot of crickets chirping!!!

Our focus in LG was on Legalism & Liberty.  Paul tells us that the cross made us free, not to go back into slavery, don't be burdened or yoked by doing religious activities in place of relationship, we should not sin more to get more grace, and to enjoy our freedom in Christ but not make it a license to sin. 

Galatians 5:13 tells us to use our freedom as an opportunity to serve each other with love. 
Liberty + Love = Service. 

My challenge to you this week is talk to your spouse and then to the rest of your accountability team to identify areas in your life where legalism is taking precedence over liberty. 

Be intentional.
Travis

Life Group Weekly Challenge

Life Group Family & Friends:

We discussed the sin in our life and how we are forgiven.  We are free from the penalty of sin, free from the power of sin, and at some point we will be free from the presence of sin.  We can use God’s example of forgiveness so we can forgive others.  Or maybe we need to forgive ourselves and give it all to the one who died for us. 

In the Fireproof clip, Caleb was dealing with the lust of the eyes (boat) and lust of the flesh (porn). When he identified the “parasites” for what they were, he chose to honor God.  In the movie he took a drastic or dramatic measure by taking the computer outside and destroying it with a baseball bat. 

My challenge to you this week is to determine what dramatic measure you need to take to deal with the sin in your life.  Maybe it involves an object, an addiction, an unhealthy relationship, etc.  Whatever it is take steps this week to live in the freedom of God’s forgiving grace.  Then follow his example for others.

Be Intentional.
Travis

Weekly Challenge

In Hebrews 10:19-25 we are instructed to:
1) Draw near to God
2) Hold on to the hope we profess
3) Spur one another on to good works
4) Meet together
5) Encourage one another

During our discussion we determined that it is impossible to do 2-5 if we do not first draw near to God.  Furthermore, it is impossible to do 2, 3, and 5 if we do not meet together (number 4).  But we must always remember that our purpose in everything we do is to ultimately bring people to Christ.  It is easy to make "meeting together" the end game when really it is a means to the end of making disciples and glorifying God.

The challenge:
1) Prayerfully consider where "meeting together" with your faith family falls in your priority list and determine what might need to change in your life to properly align your priorities.
2) Pray that our class would be intentional about making our activities be about bringing others to Christ, whether we are engaging in weekend LG time at church, social functions, service projects, growth groups, etc.

In Him,
Aaron

Celebrating Freedom! Family Devotional

This forth of July we will celebrate the tremendous freedoms we enjoy as Americans.  But for those of us who know Jesus Christ as our Savior, we have another kind of freedom to celebrate. We are free from the bondage of our sin and death. It seems like to perfect time to emphasis this with our families since it goes along with what we've been discussing in our current LG series and the upcoming holiday.

I Corinthians 15:3-4
3 I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. 4 He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said.

These verses give us a concise picture of the freedoms we have in Christ. Use the following activity to demonstrate how Jesus has freed us from sin.
1) Gather the following items: a laundry basket or box that one family member can fit into, a ball of string or yarn, some tape and a pair of scissors. Read Romans 3:23 and choose a family member to crawl inside the container. Other family members will place pieces of string across the opening of the container, taping the string on each side. Each time a new piece of string is added, a family member will share about a sin or temptation that he or she struggles with. Continue adding strings, crisscrossing them until the person in the container is hemmed in. Emphasize "the wages of sin is death," which is what the container covered in string is representing.

2) Write out and read 1 Corinthians 15:3-4. First, point out “Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures.” He died for one reason: to pay the penalty necessary for our sins. He took our place.  Instruct the person in the container to stay seated. Take the pair of scissors and begin cutting away the string, while explaining that because of Jesus' death, we are made free from the death penalty of sin and stand righteous before God. This is our justification.

3) Next, point out “that He was buried.” Romans 6 tells us that through faith we died with Him and were buried with Him and are now dead to the power of sin over us. Sin no longer has dominion over us, so we can choose to live righteous, holy lives. We are free from sin’s control over us! Have family members begin replacing the cut string with new strands. Remind the person in the container that they are now free from sin's control and that they may use there body to keep them free from being bound by the string "sin" again, but they must remain in the container. This is our sanctification.

4) Take a few minutest to talk to each other about sin in our process of sanctification. Here are some questions you can use:
       How does sin keep you from experiencing freedom?
       Do you sometimes feel trapped in sin even though you know Jesus has set you free?
       When you feel trapped, what can you do to be free once more?

5) Lastly, reread “that He rose again the third day according to the scriptures.” Explain that His death alone could not save us; it was the resurrection that showed God’s acceptance of Christ’s sacrifice, and that gives power unto salvation. In Colossians 3:1 we read that we are risen with Christ. His resurrection guarantees a future in Heaven for us where we will be free from the presence of sin. Have person in the container step out and place all the items out of sight representing the removal of the presence of sin. This is our glorification.
From that past moment when I truly believed,
I am free from the penalty of sin. . .
Free from the present power of sin over me . . .
And guaranteed to one day be free from the presence of sin.
Now that’s cause for celebration—every day!

6)  Closing Prayer "Lord Jesus, we thank you for the men and women who have served our country to provide the freedoms we enjoy as Americans. But most of all we thank you for Jesus who has freed us from sin. Let us never forget the great gift of freedom that You give us as followers of Christ. Help us to remember that we are free from sin's control over us and help us to bring glory to you until the day you return."

 

(Based on devotional from thrivingfamily.com)

Weekly Challenge -Romans 8

Life Group Family & Friends:

The last three weeks we covered Romans chapters 3, 6, and 8.  Our focus was on Justification, Sanctification, and Glorification.  We used the letter P to help us remember what the cross did for us as believers.

Justification -we are free from the Penalty of sin.
Sanctification -we are free from the Power of sin.
Glorification -we will be free from the Presence of sin.

My challenge to you this week is to delight in God.  Psalm 37:4 tells us to delight in the Lord and He will give us the desires of our heart.  Praise God for the freedom from the penalty, power, and presence of sin.  Tell your heavenly daddy thank you.

Be intentional this week.
Travis

Weekly Challenge

Last week we talked about the initial stage of salvation which is justification, having sin removed from our account and being sinless in the sight of God.  This week we talked about sanctification which is the process or journey we are all on, in which we are becoming more and more like Jesus.

Paul puts a strong emphasis on not sinning as being the major part of the sanctification process.  After all, if God sees us as sinless as a result of Jesus' completed work on the cross should we not live like it?

The Challenge:
Spend time in prayer, asking God to search your heart and reveal sin in your life.
Psalm 139:23-24 is a good Scripture to pray through for this.
Confess that sin to God and your spouse and anyone else to whom you may need to confess.
Determine what righteous actions should replace that sin and ask the Holy Spirit to make it alive in you.

In Him,
Aaron