03 Jun “The Uplifting Church”
15 for 15 – If you group would like to nominate a ‘miracle’ please go to waterschurch.org/15for15 and fill out the application. Small Group Leaders should discuss the nomination with their coach prior to submission. Deadline for submissions in June 30!
************************************************************************************************************
Elevate Fundraiser Car Wash: June 23 from 9-4 at Triboro Gulf at the corner of Toner and John L Dietsch Blvds. Elevate youth is raising money to send the youth to Camp Manadnock! Get your car washed for a donation!
********************************************************************************************
Saturday Summer Nights Registration – register for your group to either host or help. There is one night left to host and two other nights you can help. See event details for more information.
**************************************************************************************************************
“As people continue to experience the disappointments of this world, more and more will turn to the church in an effort to find hope.”
The Church should be a place where people find hope not disappointment. The world offers condemnation, judgement and bad news. The Church is called by God to be the hope of the world.
Q. Have you ever expected something to be great only to be disappointed by the experience (church, restaurant, vacation, job etc)?
1. IN CHRIST WE HAE BEEN LIFTED UP.
God did not come to condemn us, but he sent his Son to save us through him.
“It can rightly be said that in Christ both life and death in Christ elevated humanity.”
A. Woman Caught in Adultery
John 8:10-11 NIV
The people started to leave, realizing they were not perfect.
Jesus does not excuse her sin, but He does become the voice of reason, compassion and grace in an environment of hostility. Instead of hope, some find criticism in the Church. We should not try to change people’s behaviors.
Q. How would you view these people if you were in this woman’s place? How has God’s grace and compassion changed the way you look at others who are not necessarily like yourself?
“Salvation comes first – the rest follows in the strength of Christ.”
We don’t get clean before we take a shower, therefore we don’t get right before we come to church. We come in broken and when we give our life to Christ, he changes us. People look at behavior, God looks at the heart.
Q. Have you ever thought that you needed to be perfect before you came to church? In what ways have those thoughts changed and why?
B. Forgiving the Sins of the Paralytic
Jesus heals the paralytic, but first he addresses the man’s inner sin and brokenness; He sees beyond the man’s outward frailty and speaks to that inner place of pain, hurt and struggle. Before we can lift someone up, we need to look on the inside to see what is going on.
Q. What kinds of struggles have you faced where it was really a heart issue that had cause the pain and suffering? How did you overcome?
C. Accepting Lepers
Leprosy is a contagious disease, yet Jesus reached out and touched this man. Jesus breaks with social norms and touches the untouchable, showing the world that His acceptance reaches even to the social outcast and seemingly un-lovable. It is by the grace of God that we can love the unloveable and touch the untouchable. Some people do not fit our mold, but we need to look beyond that.
Q. Who were your untouchables or unloveable; what kinds of people have you steered clear of and why?
D. Dying for Humanity
Jesus dies for us when we don’t deserve it.
Jesus did not limit his sacrificial death to the good and desirable, but also to those that were “enemies” of God, so in death, Jesus performed the ultimate act of accepting the “others” – lifting up all that would come to Him.
It was in death that Jesus ultimately lifted up humanity.
2. HAVING BEEN LIFTED UP IN CHRIST WE NOW LIFT UP THOSE AROUND US.
God blesses Abraham so that Abraham can bless others. God deposits good things in our lives so we can share it with others.
Q. With what has God blessed you (or what gifts has God deposited in you) that allows you to bless others and how?
There is never a part of our journey where we don’t have something to give.
Pray for each other, the lost, your community, nation and leaders.
No Comments