22 Jan You Belong Here | Part 2 “No Shame On Me” | All Locations

Announcements:

IMPORTANT***** Please add

Go to your email, add no-reply@churchcenter.com to your contacts (PLEASE ASK ME IF YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND) THANKS!

no-reply@churchcenter.com to your email contacts so that you do not miss an email from Planning Center and have your members add it as well.  This will ensure you do not miss a member request or any emails that come from the Planning Center site.

ALL LOCATIONS

CHILI COOK-OFF  – FEB 4 AND 5TH FOR INVITE A FRIEND WEEKEND!  BELOW ARE THE PERSPECTIVE LOCATION REGISTRATIONS

NORTH ATTLEBORO

WOONIE

SOCO

APOLLO BEACH

JASON GRAY CONCERT: At our SoCo Location on January 29!  Click link below for more info and to purchase your tickets!

Jason Gray Concert

LIFE GROUP LEADER MEETING: MARCH 21 from 6-8:30.  Please register yourself, your apprentice and your children.  Food and child care provided.  NE AND APOLLO BEACH WILL ZOOM IN TOGETHER.

LIFE GROUP LEADER MEETING REG FOR NEW ENGLAND

LIEFE GROUP LEADER MEETING REG FOR APOLLO BEACH

All announcements and the Waters Event Calendar can be found at:  waterschurch.org/events

Alpha: New ministry – conversation style Small Group called Alpha that Mehdi and April will be leading.It is for seekers, those on the fence about faith, or disenfranchised from faith.It is to reach lost people. Join the conversation today @ waterschurch.org/alpha

All announcements and the Waters Event Calendar can be found at:  waterschurch.org/events

Alpha: New ministry – conversation style Small Group called Alpha that Mehdi and April will be leading.It is for seekers, those on the fence about faith, or disenfranchised from faith.It is to reach lost people.  Join the conversation today @ waterschurch.org/alpha

Location Text Alerts:

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Key Verse: John 2

John chapter 2 is a powerful story of how Jesus turns water into wine.  The story is about shame.  One of the things that keeps us from God is shame.  Shame is a sense of guilt, inside we know something is not right.  We can feel shamed or shame others.  There are many things we cannot seem to remember, but because of the power of shame, we remember those moments.

Q. What may be a moment of shame that you cannot seem to forget?

Genesis 3:7 (NLT); Genesis 2:25 (ESV)

Shame is a result of sin.  The reason we shame others or feel shame is because of sin.  The Bible makes it clear that the biggest problem of the human race is sin.  Jesus came to take away our shame.  The first place we see shame show up is in the garden of Eden and it was the first thing Adam and Eve felt after they sinned in he Garden.  They were trying to coverup their exposure.  This is what we do on a regular basis.  We try to cover ourselves up because if anyone saw what we really were they would be ashamed of us.

1. Shame keeps us SHELTERED.

Adam and Eve sought cover.  We surround ourselves with stuff to cover up the inward feeling that we are not good enough.  Our response of shame is to shelter ourselves to make sure no one sees who we are.

2. Shame keeps us SEPARATED.

Shame keeps us away from each other.  We know there is a spiritual disease inside of us that keeps us apart from each other. Maybe we been hurt by the church or hurt by family. If we don’t get shame under control we will separate more and more until we are alone. Satan likes to separate us from God and each other.

3. Shame keeps us STALLED in life.

Shame puts the brakes on a forward motion that can make things happen in our lives.  A great opportunity to get the brakes off is to serve other people.  If we don’t take care of shame it will take care of us.

Leader: Team night is Tuesday, January 24

Q. What has kept you sheltered and separated from God and/or from others, and has kept things from moving forward in your life?

John 2:1–4 (ESV)

Weddings were two week long celebrations.  Jesus went to the party and engaged with the people.  Mary initiated Jesus turning the water to wine.  She brought the problem to Him.  But he disconnects from Mary’s agenda so he can be about the Father’s business.  When He says his hour has not yet come, he means the time for suffering and death has not yet come.

John 17:1 (ESV)

Wine is a symbol of suffering in the Old Testament.

Psalm 75:8 (ESV); Jeremiah 25:15 (ESV)

The connection of running out of wine and the cross reminded Jesus of the suffering he needed to do to pay for our sins.  He suffered for us.  This is the glorious nature of the gospel.

John 2:5-6 (ESV)

Mary spent 30 years living with the Son of the Most High so she knows that whatever He says to do, they should do.

Mark 7:3–4 (ESV)

This is a picture for us that the Jews thought if they cleansed the outside then they were clean. But we can be clean on the outside and not on the inside.  The water jugs pointed to the law but the law does not ultimately clean us.  It points out our dirt but it does not clean our dirt.

Romans 3:20 (ESV); Romans 5:20 (ESV)

The purpose of the law was to show us just how far we are from God. Some of us don’t realize how bad we are until we learn the rules.  Jesus was shamed to bear our shame. 

Q. What laws have you tried to follow thinking that if you did that you were not guilty of sin?

The LAW cannot REMOVE our SHAME, it can only REVEAL our SHAME.

1. Jesus takes our SHAME in HIS SUFFERING.

Adam and Eve tried to cover themselves, Jesus was exposed. 

Hebrews 12:2 (ESV); Romans 8:1–4 (ESV)

He did not love the suffering but He did it for us.  We are not good people but if we are in Christ, we are not condemned.  The law cannot save us.  If we are in Christ, we are free in the eyes of God.  We are free from sin and all the things we have done wrong.

Q. Even though you know that in Christ you are set free, why might you still feel condemned?

John 2:7 (ESV)

2. Jesus invites us out of RITUAL and into RELATIONSHIP.

Every real relationship is built on trust. We need to trust who Jesus is and what He did. Are we trusting that His blood washes us or are we trusting the water that keeps getting dirtier and dirtier?

John 2:8-9 (ESV)

All the servants just stuck their nasty hands in the water.  If Jesus doesn’t do what He said he would do, then they would be shamed, and us too we would be shamed before God. But on the 3rd day he rose up out of the grave so we can have life with the Father.  Absolutely no one is justified without Jesus.

John 2:10

It happened because they just believed Jesus.  That is how we get saved, we just listen to what He says and believe. It is not a one and done thing in our past it is every day forward.   The best is yet to come. 

John 2:11

The reason he did it is so that we can trust him.

Q. In what areas do you still have trouble trusting God?

3. Jesus transforms our SHAME into SECURITY.

Jesus wants to take our insecurity and give us security.

Romans 10:11 (ESV)

1 John 2:28 (ESV)

Jesus takes the shame out of us so we can stand confident.

Q. How do you need to change your daily routine so that you may be confident and unashamed before Christ at His second coming?

Continue praying for those you will invite to Friends Weekend.