Devotional Ideas

Read Luke 11:1-36 that begins with Jesus teaching how to pray, moves to seeing prayer lived out in ministry and ends with illustrating the purpose of prayer.

Reread Mark 1:40-45 and revisit the visualization of that passage.  Search the internet for pictures of people with leprosy to help your visualization.  Remember yelling “unclean” was something the leper was required by law to do and it meant more than “I’m sick” but also meant, “I’m cursed by God, unfit to worship.”  Allow yourself to see the crowds’ reactions, the beauty of Jesus reaching out and touching the leper who had not been touched lovingly by a “normal” or “godly” person in years.  Then allow yourself to meditate and visualize your shame, your skeletons, the ugly parts of your life as the diseased distortions in the leper’s body and see Jesus lovingly lifting your head and speaking healing to you.  What does Jesus say to you about those things as He gently touches you and says, “I am willing, be healed”?

Reread Mark 1:35-36 and take time away to let the stress and pressure of your life dissipate in silence and time with God.  Then ask God what He wants you to do with the demands, the expectations of others and of yourself that are creating stress in your life?

Conversation Ideas

We have talked about the Kingdom of God being near, being present, breaking into our midst.  In Luke 11:33-36 Jesus describes the purpose of prayer as being focused on the Kingdom purposes of bringing people from darkness to light, as a significant part of helping us be becoming really good fishers of men and women.  And then says our ability to do that is dependent on our intentional actions of solitude and prayer that help us live in the light that God wants to also bring to others.

• How does this passage challenge or refine your approach to prayer?
• There is an expectation in this passage and all of Luke 11 that prayer results in action and the real experience of God, now:   What are the opportunities you have had in the past week to pray for a need in the moment with a person and be an agent of bringing God’s light to darkness or healing to sickness but you have instead left the conversation without praying?  What is one thing you would like to do in the next week to pray and expect God’s Kingdom to draw near in the situation?

Devotional Ideas

Reread Mark 1:21-34 and Daniel 7:14.  Ask God to speak to you about where you need to change perspective on difficulty you face or simply worship Him for what He has done in your life to bring freedom and healing.

1 John 4:1-4

1 Corinthians 15:22-26 amplifies on the battle of the Kingdom as well as the nature of living today while that battle is still being finished and is not yet complete.

Ephesians 6:12 Since our battle with others is not against flesh and blood, in what relationships in your life is there tension?  How can this perspective change the way you pray and the way you relate to the people in those situations?

Conversation and Journaling Ideas

Ross said the following in yesterday’s message:

So much of conflict in life happens when we touch someone else’s insecurities.  Insecurities are those areas of your life where you do not have a sense of peace, security, identity solidly established to the point you are content, not threatened, joyful, and happy.  Insecurities are clear marks in our lives of places where we do not see ourselves as God sees us.  Where we do not trust God’s good plan for our lives and His ability to deliver that good plan regardless of the actions of others.  They are places where we give authority and power to other controlling perspectives of who we are—accusations, lies—and that is the place evil spiritual forces are at work, in bending, twisting, lying, accusing us, and tempting us.

Ask God to show you one insecurity (no more than two) and then do the following in conversation or journaling:

• What does that insecurity cost you in terms of personal ramifications and relational problems?
• What does Scripture say about you in that area?  How does God really see you?  Who are you really?
• What is the lie or the twist on truth you believe about yourself?  What influenced you to believe that lie or twist?
• Pray for one another or write a prayer that both repents of believing the lie and blesses the person and God for the truth that He wants to solidify in their/your life.

Discussion / Conversation Ideas

When you think of the “Good News (Gospel) of Jesus,” do you experience it like a motivational message or like the Greeks did the day they found out they were no longer slaves to the Persians or the POW who returns home to safety and family?

Are you letting God’s call completely redefine everything?  If not, where is He inviting you to allow Him to work?

What parts of your quest / journey following God’s thread in your life have been the most difficult, yet rewarding?

In what ways have you approached your faith through the lens of advice giving religion?  How would approaching those same areas through gospel/good news change how you think and feel about faith?

Self-centeredness is at the core of religion.  Being free of that does NOT mean we don’t make decisions to care for ourselves.  On the contrary, we care for ourselves differently because we are content in the love of God and led by God, not driven by our need.  How might God be leading you to care for yourself instead of letting needs drive you?

Devotions

Mark 1:14-20  Revisit the passage we talked about and journal your thoughts, feelings, hopes, fears about what God is calling you to in your life.

• How do you live like and experience the Kingdom of God as near to you?
• How is God defining a new history for you?

Luke 4:14-30

Luke 14:25-35  Jesus illustrates the deep commitment to which He is calling us

Read Genesis 32 and reflect on the wall Jacob faces as he follows God’s thread for his life.  What similar walls have you faced?  How did you cope with it?  What would you like to be different the next time you face something similar?

Books

George MacDonald The Princess and the Goblin

Kingdom Calling: Vocational Stewardship for the Common Good By Dr. Amy L. Sherman  [Published by Inter Varsity press]

Devotional Ideas

Read Mark 1:9-13 and Luke 4:1-13 taking time to meditate and visualize what it must have been like to be Jesus.  What is God saying to you through an experience of these words?

1 John 2:15-17 summarizes the three main areas of temptation we face, the same Jesus faced, in a different way.  Where is God growing you through resistance of temptation?

Hebrews 4:14-16  In what area has Satan accused you, telling you your identity in Christ is different than it is?  What areas of your life have you not brought to God in confidence?  Take the time to write a prayer bringing those areas to God in humble confidence of His desire to respond compassionately to you.

Psalm 91  Read the whole chapter and focus on verses 11-12 in the context of what the Psalmist is saying.  Take time to visualize yourself doing what the Scripture says to do with God or feeling what that must feel like.  Let the Holy Spirit bring to mind areas you need to rest in Him.

Hebrews 2:1-18  Ponder who Jesus is, why He came as He did and what that means for you.

Journaling or Conversation

The assertion of the message is that all of life is worship—what we eat, how we spend our money, our time, what we pursue as goals for work or family or personal life.  The application of that point is based in whether we are worshipping God in all of those things and being led by Him, or whether we are doing it in our own power for our own reasons to please others or pacify unmet needs.  As you heard this in the message or have thought about it since:

• What are the areas where you think your worship may not be of God, but of your own rights, own power or own desire for pleasure?
• How can you turn toward God in those areas (repentance entails turning toward God to seek Him and, where we have sinned, taking ownership and asking forgiveness)?  What can you do in those areas to bring the needs being met to God first, rather than to whatever you identified as your worship point?

Devotional Ideas

Read John 17, Jesus’ prayer:

• In what ways do you see the dance of the relationship of love among the members of the Trinity?
• Jesus’ prayer says His desire is to give us fullness of joy and to even glorify us, as He and the Father glorify one another and are one—inviting us into the very life of the Trinity.  Close your eyes and meditate on receiving the joy God wants to give you.

Read Romans 8:14-16 in which the picture of entering into the dance of relationship with the Trinity is described through the idea of being adopted as a child—co-heirs.

• Picture yourself as the child of God—co-heirs with Jesus.  What does that make you feel, think?
• How does that challenge the way you view yourself as a follower of Christ?  How does that invite you, if you are not a committed follower of Christ?

Discussion Ideas

What are the aspects of Jesus that are most attractive to you?

What are the aspects of Jesus that you have read about in the Bible that puzzle you or even repel you?

Devotional Ideas

Reread Mark 1:1-8 and ponder God becoming flesh in Jesus.  But this time, close your eyes and imagine Jesus being with you in the room—coming to you, for you, wanting relationship with you.  What does it mean to you to have God that close?  What does it mean for you to follow a God like that?  Spend time thinking and feeling how that changes you.

Join us this next Sunday as we continue to look at Jesus through the Beauty in the Greatest Mystery.

You are blessed with raising your children for a few short, formative years. We recognize that we receive the same privilege as a church seeking to empower you toward your dream of a strong, happy family that launches capable, engaged kids into the world as adults.  So we thought it would be a good idea to begin with the end in mind to achieve that goal through an intentional, interesting, educational experience beginning from preschool all the way until your children graduate from high school.  We don’t just believe in education, we believe in life transformation.  Join us in realizing that vision!

The End in Mind:

Growing children into socially and emotionally healthy adults.  Let’s face it, we can talk all we want about love, but if we don’t have the ability to communicate, to deal constructively and honestly with our emotions and the ability to get along with both people we enjoy and people who are more difficult, we won’t have good marriages, good families or be successful in the workplace.

Growing children into a life-long, vibrant faith through the teaching of spiritual habits that create healthy relationship with God.  Faith is not just about morality.  It is about knowing God and having a real relationship with Jesus that teaches us to trust His goodness and believe in who we are as His creations.

Growing children into adults who live from a Christian Biblical worldview, effectively navigating with grace, kindness and clarity other people’s worldviews and the pressures of life that can undermine faith, truth, freedom and God’s best for them.  We want our kids to own their beliefs and be adults who influence from humble confidence rather than blindly follow the trends of the cultures within which we live.

Growing children into adults who live their Christian faith with a deep understanding of Biblical knowledge rather than from the common skewed beliefs, moralism and superstitions that are wrongly attributed to the Bible by so many.

Growing children into adults who marvel at how wonderfully God made them and live life being a blessing to others through continually discovering God’s purpose and living out of their unique giftedness.

How we do this:

• We seek to continually grow in the use of the best learning practices that result in both knowledge and positive, long-term life application.
• We believe relationship and life is where learning happens best, so we are committed to small, interactive, participant-centered environments.  We do large group fun well, but are committed to growth in the context of friendship at all levels of the church.
• We know that healthy families and faith are grown primarily at home, so we provide tools to parents that make it easier to guide their kids to the desired, unique end in mind for each child.
• We make teaching easy, effective and fun for our volunteers by providing great resources that require minimal preparation time to be highly effective so that their primary focus can be on building relationships with children.

Click to enlarge the picture below for an overview of Quest’s childrens and youth ministries.  Additionally we provide Special Blessings, a ministry for special needs students during our first service on Sunday.

Devotional Idea:

·      Day 1: read through again how the Abrahamic Covenant is woven through Scripture.  Read Genesis 12:1-3, Deuteronomy 28:9, Psalm 67, Isaiah 49:6, 60:1-3, and 42:1-7.

·      Day 2: start with John 3:16, the reason Jesus came.  Read two accounts of the Great Commission, Matthew 28:18-20 and Acts1:8.  Ask God to open your eyes to His mission for you, personally.

·      Day 3: see the role of the church, as explained in Galatians 3:7-9, and 3:14.  We ARE children of Abraham! Since you are a child of the Covenant, what does that mean for you?  You can pray, Mark 11:17.  Join one of our Prayer gatherings; pray with your Quest group; pray with your family.   “Pray without ceasing,” we are told, 1 Thessalonians 5:17, 1 Timothy 2:8.  (God is our Father; prayer is simply a running conversation with your loving Dad.)  The results are shown in Revelation 5:8-9, and Revelation 7:9-10.

·      Day 4: You can give – Andy said the church now has the resources in hand to be able to reach all those people groups who have still not heard.  But that’s the problem: they’re “in hand” and not being applied.  Ask God to show you how you might make changes in your thinking, and your actions, to “free up” some of what He’s given you for Kingdom use.  Then follow through!

·      Day 5:  Matthew 28:18-20 says we’re to go… so you have already been “called”…in writing! Ask Him again, to show you what that looks like in your life.  Share what He tells you with your spouse, an accountability partner, a friend who can encourageyou.   Revelation 7:9-10 is “the payoff” – standing in front of the Throne, worshipping with people from every tribe, tongue and nation!

There are so many ideas of who Jesus is—things we prefer about him, things we have heard about him. Join us as we look intently at Jesus by studying his actions, his claims, his words and the descriptions made of Jesus by the eyewitnesses to His life. Don’t trust other’s opinions or your own perceptions based on what you hope or what others have said about him. Discover the Real Jesus.