Is a large church with expanding ministries, budgets and staff the sign of a great Church and evidence of God’s pleasure? It can be. But isn’t it interesting that every time the crowds got larger and the excitement grew greater around Jesus, that he would say something radical and demanding that ended up shrinking the size of the group that followed Him. In this series we will look at some of the radical teachings of Jesus that continue to challenge us and invite us to get radical.
Title: Radical Families
Big Idea: Jesus taught, and modeled by how He lived His life, that He placed an exceedingly high value upon and commitment to family and relationships. So what did He mean when He shocked everyone by saying we need to hate our families to follow Him? And how should what He said be lived out in radical families? Scripture: Luke 14:25-27
Big Idea: Outreach strategies and programs have been part of church life – well, as long as anyone can remember. Is it possible that while these efforts were well intentioned that they took the heart out of the people? Could it be that the radical approach taught by Jesus isn’t about programs and strategies? What if we loved people and lived the presence of Jesus wherever we are? Scripture: Luke 12:1-12
Big Idea: Life is filled with voices at work, home and from within ourselves about many things that require our time, energy and money. And we can find strong support from within the Bible about the place of family, work and caring for ourselves. So when Jesus calls his followers to live their life radically on mission, is it another add on that takes us to the breaking point? Or, is it the critical piece that helps us put life together? Scripture: Luke 10:1-12; II Peter 3:9; Phil 2:12
Big Idea: Jesus had a remarkable open door policy and welcomed everyone into his kingdom when he said “whoever believes on me”. But he also said the door was narrow. So we can’t be surprised that someone asked Jesus who will be in and who will be out. But Jesus answer might surprise you. Scripture: Luke 13:22-30; II Peter 3:9; Phil 2:12
Big Idea: During the early stages of Jesus ministry it was exciting to follow Him as he did miracles, feed people and taught amazing things. But a time came when His teachings became radical and the excitement of following Him was replaced with the call to radical commitment. Scripture: Luke 9:18-26
When you read the biography of a famous person, usually their death is just a small part of the biography, even when their death is a prominent part of the story. But the four biographers of Jesus’ life devote about one third of their biography to the events of the final week of Jesus leading up to and including His death. Hands down the death of Jesus is the most influential death in history so join us as we consider seven days that changed everything.
Title: Surprise
Big Idea: The Saturday between the cross and the tomb was a day of confusion and despair. It was followed by the events of Sunday which surprised everyone, raising even more questions in the face of Saturday’s confusion. But ultimately, the events of Sunday require individual decisions to still be made, and which still change the world. Scripture: Luke 24:1-35
Big Idea: Good Friday was an awful day for Jesus. He was tried, declared innocent, but condemned anyway. He was tortured to the point of death and then put to death on a cross. Although innocent he was found guilty so the guilty could be declared free. An amazing story worth remembering because it changed everything. Scripture: Mark 14:32-51; Matthew 27:11-61
Big Idea: Jesus rode into Jerusalem during Passover. A time when Israel celebrated their delivery from an oppressive nation (Egypt) and while they were waiting for a Messiah to deliver them from their current oppressor (Rome). Everyone in the crowd had an agenda for Jesus. We too, become like those in the crowd that day. This is our chance to learn about ourselves from the crowd and from Jesus. Scripture: Matthew 21:1-11; Luke 19:28-44
The book of Deuteronomy is a story of transition as the people of Israel prepared to move out of the dessert and into the Promised Land. After 40 years of waiting in the dessert, God is now going to fulfill His promise to them. This ancient story still holds timeless messages for us today when God says to us, “wait”.
Title: Making the Most Out of Waiting
Big Idea: Waiting does not need to mean: time wasted. Many helpful hints for making use of the time when we wait in line, etc are available to us. But what about those times when God says wait? Can we embrace these seasons of waiting so they don’t become wasted periods of time in our life? Scripture: Deuteronomy 5:15 & 31:8
Big Idea: Waiting is part of our daily lives. We wait in line at Tim’s, in traffic and in check out lines to make our purchases. Whether the wait is long or short we’d prefer not to wait and just get it done. The same thing is true about our spiritual life. There are times when God says wait but we’d prefer to just move on and get to the next thing. Is there anything we can learn from the hard part of waiting? Scripture: Deuteronomy 1:1-8 & 31:8
Heartache is universal. Being mistreated because of what we believe isn’t uncommon.
When such things happen we can be knocked down
or knocked out. In this nine week series we will learn life lessons that will
enable us to do more than simply cope in seasons of heartache or mistreatment,
but actually find hope that can produce surprising results in our life.
Title: Persevering in a Whatever World
Big Idea: What do your thoughts focus on? We need to understand that the ultimate freedom we have is the power to choose what we will allow our minds to dwell upon. We are not helpless victims to our thoughts. We can choose life-giving thoughts over life-draining thoughts and Peter offers us a way of doing just that. Scripture: I Peter 5:1-14
Big Idea: When painful events happen in our life the first question we ask is, why did this happen? The next question to follow is usually, why did this happen to me? The answers to these questions might not only surprise you, but actually change how you look at past, present and future chaos in your life. Scripture: I Peter 4:12-19
Big Idea: Have you ever had that feeling that someone is watching you? It can be unsettling and even creepy. But what if they are watching you because they admire the way your life is making a positive impact on those around you. Would that still creep you out or spur you on? Scripture: I Peter 4:1-11
Big Idea: Have you ever frozen in your tracks when the moment to share what you believe about Jesus was right in front of you? Sure you have. Every follow of Christ has moments like that. Is there anything we can do to be more prepared for those moments so we actually help people find answers or perhaps consider questions they’ve never asked? Scripture: I Peter 3:13-22
Big Idea: We have access to more information about marriage and sex than at any other time in history. Yet marriage satisfaction and longevity is often exceedingly rare today. Are there some basic essentials that if embraced when searching for a mate (and after finding one) that will increase our chances for a successful and happy marriage? Scripture: I Peter 3:1-12
Title: Navigating Relationships in a Whatever World
Big Idea: Everyone has experienced relational tensions because of differing points of view, preferences or plans. Is it possible that many of these conflict moments reveal something about us we may not want to admit about ourselves? And is it possible that there is a powerful solution that replaces power struggles with trust? Scripture: I Peter 2:13-25
Big Idea: The way you live directly reflects how big you perceive God to be. When human beings shrink God, they offer prayers without faith, worship without awe, service without joy, and face suffering without hope. The result is fear, retreat and loss of vision. Life with a big God, however, is a life of risky faith, fearless obedience, awestruck worship and passionate purpose. Scripture: I Peter 2:4-12
Big Idea: Who am I really? How we answer this question will lead us to conclusions about ourselves as well as how we will approach the life we live in this world. In week two of this series Peter introduces us to the identity we can have, the motives this identity fosters in us and the way of life it will lead us into. Scripture: I Peter 1:13-2:3
Big Idea: Have you ever hoped for something only to have your hope fade and die? Has the passage of time destroyed your hopes? Peter begins his letter to people dealing with suffering and heartache by saying there is actually a hope that becomes more glorious with the passage of time and it will never wear out or disappoint. Scripture: I Peter 1:1-12
Get Radical
