For this week’s Announcements please visit: (waterschurch.org/events):

Reminder: 

Baskets for the Waters Academy auction should be in no later than April 14.  They are looking for baskets or donations worth $300 – $500.  If you have a business or service that would be a great way to donate!  Groups can band together as well to come up with some nice baskets.

Donations so far:

2 Golf Four-somes at two different country clubs

Airbnb 4-Night Vacation Package

Stone Fire Pit

Corn Hole Board Set

BBQ Meat Market Basket 

Winter Coat Drive for New England Locations:

One of our Action Groups is collecting winter coats in Youth sizes 14-18 and Adult Small and Large.  This for for a school in Providence where a lot of under-privileged children attend.  You can drop off your brand new or gently used winter jackets and coats in your perspective location’s bin no later than March 31!

Life Group Leader Meeting: To be held on April 14 at 5:00p.  This is a special event so please read the description!  Also, if you would like to take some random pics of your group, doing group you can send them to maparsons@waterschurch.org and I can print them.  We can put these on the tables at the meeting!

 Register Here for the Lifie Awards Ceremony

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Reminders:

✳ Please regularly check your Planning Center profiles for requests to join your life groups, remove members from the list that no longer attend, or add members not listed. Please ensure that you have added no-reply@churchcenter.com to your email contacts so that you do not miss an email from Planning Center and encourage your members to do so as well.  This will ensure you do not miss a member request or any emails that come from the Planning Center site. Thank you!

Waters Class Schedule:

• 1st Sunday: Discover Waters – after 1st service
• 2nd Sunday: NO CLASSES
• 3rd Sunday: Connect Class – after 1st service
• 4th Sunday: Baptism Class – after 1st service

Waters Help: Need marriage and family care  or have a group member in need of marriage and family care?   Click here:  help resources page  or visit waterschurch.org/help

Location Text Alerts:

Key Verse: Mark 3

Ice breaker

Q. What state or country do you never want to go back to and why?

Our Lord was fully human.  He was as we are.  We are so busy thinking about the power of Christ that we don’t think about the Person of Christ.  God became flesh.  No other religion believes this.

We are not meant to do life alone.  The one main component of Christ’s humanity was that we need each other.

The church is the only organization that Jesus Christ founded.  It is a beautiful living organism that blesses your life.

Philippians 2:5–8 (ESV)

He is saying that before Jesus was a baby, He was God the Son through eternity past.  He was always God the Son.  He emptied Himself, set aside his prerogatives as God, and became flesh.

He physically died and through His death, our sins died with Him! He rose again in the flesh and now lives forever!

Mark 3:7-8(ESV)

‘Withdrew’ is a form of a Greek word that means to retreat from the battle.

Jesus knows what it is like to be you.  He knows how you feel.  He knows what loss, abandonment, and rejection feel like.

Because he was a Man can feel it because he was God he can heal it.

Q. Can you share a time when withdrawing from your daily struggles to focus on your relationship with God and your faith community provided you with strength or clarity?

Sometimes we need to withdraw from the battle, not to be alone,  but withdraw in relationship with God through community with God’s people.

Mark 3:9-10

Jesus chose to become very human. He was completely human.    He does not elevate above the crowd or push them away. He was like us.

He was crushed and pressed. Are you crushed and pressed by life? Do you feel the weight of your troubles?  Jesus has been there and even He had to withdraw from the battle.

Q. How does recognizing both the divine and human aspects of Jesus impact your personal faith journey?  Can you share some examples from your own life or from the Bible where Jesus’ humanity is particularly meaningful to you?

In His HUMANITY, Jesus CHOSE COMMUNITY.

If Jesus NEEDED people, I NEED people.

1. He ESTABLISHED a new NATION.

We are part of a nation.  We are part of the American nation. America is going in a direction that makes us more estranged from this nation.

As Christians, we belong to a new nation.

Mark 3:13–14a (ESV)

By choosing 12 new patriarchs, Jesus is pronouncing judgment under the Old Covenant.  These twelve men are starting a new nation, a new people.  God gives people a new identity and a new kingdom that is not of this world.

His Kingdom will outlast America.  It is an eternal Kingdom, a holy nation.  This is our identity.

Revelation 21:14 (ESV)

We are part of this new never-ending nation!

1 John 2:17 (ESV); 1 Peter 2:9 (ESV); John 15:19 (ESV)

Mark 3:14–15 (ESV)

Fundamentally, Christianity is not going to Church, it is doing life with Jesus every day.  He chooses us to be with him. Emmanuel – God with us.  The more time you spend with the Lord, the less hold this world has on you.

Alone and in community we need to spend time with the Lord.  This goes beyond sitting in Church, but looking forward and at each other.

Q.  The text emphasizes a new identity and kingdom given by God that is not of this world.  How does this concept of being part of a “new nation” under God’s kingdom impact your personal identity and daily life?

2. He CHOSE specific FRIENDS.

Mark 3:16–18 (ESV)

Jesus chose these men.  Not only did Jesus have an official relationship with them,  but He had a close friendship with them.

By choosing these men, the Bible shows us that it has nothing to do with what we bring to the table but all to do with what He is going to give us.

Matthew was a hated tax collector, Simon was an insurrectionist, and James and John were hotheads.  Jesus started His Church with these people, a diverse Church.  We learn to appreciate the glorious diversity of the Church through the testimonies of others who are unlike us.

Our DIFFERENCES are not meant to DIVIDE us but to DEVELOP us.

Proverbs 27:17 (ESV)

Ephesians 4:3 (NIV)

Christians will offend you and hurt you because Christians are sinners. But still, we are better together.

Q. How do the differences among members contribute to the church’s mission and growth? Can you share any personal experiences where learning from someone’s testimony, who is different from you, has deepened your faith or understanding?

3. He ADOPTED a new FAMILY.

Mark 3:20–21 (ESV)

We have a new nation of new friends and family.  If you give it long enough, the people you do life together with will become your family.

Q. What testimony can you share of how your life group is becoming or has become like family?

Mark 3:31–32 (ESV)

Jesus did not own a home.  It means he got with his life group.  The 12 were His home.

John 7:2-5 (ESV)

Matthew 10:36 (ESV); Psalm 27:10 (ESV); nPsalm 68:5–6 (NLT); Mark 3:33–35 (ESV)

We need community because we are human. Jesus needed people and so do we.

Sermon in a sentence:

In Christ, I am a member of His HEAVENLY NATION, I am SHAPED by His FAULTY FRIENDS, and I BELONG to His FOREVER FAMILY.

Challenge: As a leader, who has a group of less than 12 members,  be proactive in seeking out people in our Church community to add to your group.  People you serve with who don’t have a group, meet new people in the lobby, and when praying at the altar.  Ask the Holy Spirit to draw them to you.

Challenge: As a member of a group of less than 12 members, encourage people you serve with who are not in a group to join your group, meet people in the lobby, and ask the Holy Spirit to introduce you to them.

(Even if your group is full, you can encourage others to join another group)