Weekly Challenge: Encourage - Be Encouraged

Life Group Community,

Saturday night we began our Philippians study in chapter 1 with verses 1-11.  In his letter to the church of Philippi, Paul opens with encouragement. Here is how he do it. (you'll get it in a second)

He tells them how thankful he is for them.
How happy just the thought of them makes him.
How he misses them.
That he prays for them daily.
He lets them know that they are in the fight together and that what they are doing is right.
That they are worthy to be in this fight.
And he ends with telling them in what specfic ways he is praying for them.

WOW!  What if we did this for each other, weekly or even daily.  As believers we desperately need this encouragement to keep fighting the good fight (Galatians 6:9) and not get beat down by the day to day happenings of this fallen world (John 16:33).  As believers we are also commanded to do this for others (1 John 4:19).

So in the immortal words of Montell Jordan "This is how we do it".  (haha! get it now?)

This week - encourage at least two people each day - the first being someone within your close circle (spouse, kids, bff, co-workers, all of the above) and the second either someone you haven't connected with in a while or even a complete stranger.  

Remember, you can go above and beyond two - there may be bonus points involved. 

"Be awesome today and give the world a reason to dance!  You've been Pep-talked!" - Kid President

Be intentional, it's contagious!
J

Weekly Challenge: Identify the Real Enemy

Life Group Community,
We ended the Spring bible study series with 1 Peter 5:1-11.  In the first 7 verses,

• Peter reminds us (spiritual leaders, elders, pastors, etc.) that we have a responsibility to shepherd, guide, & protect.
• We need to serve out of desire, not obligation.  
• We, and the young leaders are encouraged to seek counsel and be humble. 
• We must give our anxieties and worries completely to God.  Because worry constitutes pride since it denies the care of a sovereign God. 

But wait, there's more!

We have all heard about Satan prowling around like a lion waiting to devour someone (verse 8).  But it is more than just imagery.  It is real.  The name Satan, means adversary.  He is our enemy.  He was given limited power (Job 1:8-12), but his mission is to kill, steal, and destroy (John 10:10).  He will do this through lies (John 8:44).
We must identify the real enemy.  It is not your spouse.  It is not your family.  It is not your church community.  It is not your job.  It IS Satan, the great deceiver.

My challenge to you this week is to spend time getting to know your adversary.  Know his names, his attributes, his methods, his characteristics.  I suspect that you will begin to see that he is real, but he is not original.  Once you identify the enemy and the simple tactics, you can begin to prepare to fight the enemy with the power of God.

Verbal Kent, from The Usual Suspects, had a great line when he said "The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world that he does not exist".

Be intentional.
Travis

Weekly Challenge

Life Group Community:

We are ending our Spring series with several lessons on end times and being ready for judgment. 

We can be certain that judgment will occur for believers and for non-believers.  There are only 2 destinies for humans; one is to be with God forever and the other is to be forever separated from God.  This fact is our motivation for telling others about the good news, whatever the cost. 

This is the application from the lesson.  Are we doing everything possible to inform and challenge people to receive Christ before it is too late?

Who are you going to tell the good news to this week?  Start by asking God to show you and provide for you open doors of opportunities.  And ask Him to help you see those open doors. 

It may start with “Praise God for the rain” or “We had a great message at church this week”.  Or maybe it is praying for a member in your family or asking a co-worker if it is ok for you to pray for them.

We are on the winning team and we have an exciting message to tell in joy, not in fear.

Be intentional this week.
Travis

Weekly Challenge: Are we Immature?

Life Group family and friends:

We studied 1Corinthians 3:1-4 and Hebrews 5:11-14 during LG on Saturday.  Many Christians were not growing.  Paul called them immature and still babies in the faith.  They were jealous, lazy, selfish, living in fear, not teaching others, and not applying what they have learned.  Other Christians were being intentional and growing.

During LG, we came up with these words to describe the maturing Christian:

Connection, training, authenticity, bible studies, self-discipline, sacrifice, action, community, mentors, and choosing to be intentional.

We read a paragraph from For the Love of God, by D. A. Carson written in 1999.  This is the excerpt:

People do not drift toward holiness.  Apart from grace-driven effort, people do not gravitate toward godliness, prayer, obedience to Scripture, faith, and delight in the Lord.  We drift toward compromise and call it tolerance; we drift toward disobedience and call it freedom; we drift toward superstition and call it faith.  We cherish the indiscipline of lost self-control and call it relaxation; we slouch toward prayerlessness and delude ourselves into thinking we have escaped legalism; we slide toward godlessness and convince ourselves we have been liberated.

 

My challenge to you this week is to read this excerpt every day.  Make it your call to action and maturity.  We will not drift into Christian maturity.  We must make a decision.  It will take an effort on your part.  We have to be intentional.  

 

Travis

Weekly Challenge : Family Values

This week's challenge comes from Clay York...

Develop with your wife and family the values you will live by. Back these with scripture. Keep these handy and refer to them often. 

Example of a few the ten values we developed:

1. I am who the Bible says I am. I can do what it says I can do. I can have what it says I can have. A faithful man will abound with blessing. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Now draw near and discover His love for you. (Rom 10:17, Hosea 4:6, Prov 28:20, Col 2:8)
2. Make a living by your giving. (Malachi 3:8-11 and Proverbs 19:17) He who has pity on the poor lends to the Lord and He will pay back what he as given. (Prov 21:13)
3. God loves righteousness over sacrifice. (1 Peter) For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men. Honor all people, Love the brotherhood, Fear God, Honor the King.

I hope this is a valuable exercise for everyone!!

Weekly Challenge: Serving Others

Weekly Challenge: Serving Others

Life Group Community:

Awesome discussion on Saturday.  The theme was USING YOUR SPIRITUAL GIFTS TO SERVE OTHERS

Our study was on Romans 12:1-8.  We discussed some different kinds of spiritual gifts and how our individual gifts fit together to make up the body of the church.  It is only when we work together that the body works as a whole to further the kingdom of God.

My challenge to you this week is to conduct this brief audit of where you stand when it comes to using your spiritual gifts to serve others.

MY PLAN FOR SERVING

Life Group Involvement: “All to service; some to leadership.”

            If God has gifted and called you to be a leader, where are you leading?

            If God has gifted and called you to be a servant, where are you serving?

Action steps                                                                                                                           

Participate in another church ministry.

•             What is a need in your church that is important to you?
•             How can you passionately invest your time, energy, talents, resources, skills,                   personality, spiritual gift(s), etc. to help meet this need?

Action steps                                                                                                                           

Participate in a community service project.

•             What is a need in your community that is important to you?
•             How can you passionately invest your time, energy, talents, resources, skills,                   personality, spiritual gift(s), etc. to help meet this need?

Action steps                                                                                                                          

Participate in a mission trip.

• What is an area of your world that is important to you (local, national, or international)?
• How can you passionately invest your time, energy, talents, resources, skills, personality, spiritual gift(s), etc. to help meet this need?

Action steps                                                                                                                           

Do an anonymous, random act of kindness for someone.

•             What can you do for someone in your family?
•             What can you do for someone in your neighborhood?
•             What can you do for someone in your workplace?
•             What can you do for someone in your church?

Action steps                                                                                                                           

GET BUSY LIVING LIFE ON MISSION!

Weekly Challenge: Information + Application = Transformation

Life Group Community:

Great discussion on Saturday.  The theme was Information + Application = Transformation

Our study was on Proverbs 3:1-2.  Every two verses, we are told to do something (or not to do something) followed by a promise.  It is useful for us to read the bible, but we have to be intentional about applying the information we have learned.

My challenge to you this week is to finish the handout we started in LG.  List the exhortation and the promise.  Then complete the application and the steps you will take. 

 

Verses	Exhortation	Promise	Application	Steps
v. 1-2	Don’t forget God’s teaching and keep his commandments in your heart.	Long life and prosperity	God promises me long life and prosperity if I make his teaching and commands a part of my life.	1.     I will practice a personal Bible study and prayer time daily. 2.     I will make my Life Group and Growth Group a top priority.
v. 3-4
v. 5-6
v. 7-8
v. 9-10
v. 11-12