Sunday in Review – 9/2/18

Hello! Today the Wolfes hosted, Justin read the story, and Simeon preached.

The story–

Today’s story talked about Samuel working in the tabernacle. God calls out to Samuel in the night and prepares him to be a great prophet.

The sermon–

“Jesus Creed” by Scot McKnight

Jude read Mark 1:9-15 and Simeon read a few other verses with Kingdom references.

Questions: What do Jesus’ audience think about Him and His teachings?

Simeon recommends reading through all of Matthew 13 sometime – we read Matthew 13:31-35 and Matthew 13:44-46.

We talked about how Jesus references the Kingdom of God: Stop waiting for the Kingdom to come. The Kingdom is alive around you!

Sunday in Review – 8/28/18

Hello! Today the Franklin’s hosted church. Simeon read the kids story and Justin preached the sermon.

The story-

Joseph, Mary, and Jesus are back on the road to Nazareth, united once again! The next 18 years of Jesus’ life are wrote out in 1 verse — 28 words!

After this, John the Baptist comes and preaches and baptizes people. Jesus knows it is His time!

The sermon–

Justin recently listened to a biography on St. Francis of Assisi. (lots of plane time flying to France! ๐Ÿ˜‰ )

We read some from Job 6 and then learned about St. Francis of Assisi…

  • Francis was not born a saint, but a warrior!
  • At one time, he fell sick before a battle and then received a vision from God to rebuild the church.
  • He went to court with his father and was named a ‘fool’
  • But appeared had a huge impact with his simple followers on Popes and rulers

Justin read some more about St. Francis and the had some Psalm reading and also read aloud Hebrews 12:28

You must remember that God is the reason for everything. He is the reason you are alive and living in this world!

Sunday in Review – 9/16/18

Today the Wolfes hosted, Justin read the story, and Simeon preached the sermon.

The story–

Today we read about the Israelite people fighting in a war with the Philistines. The Philistine army captured the Ark of the Covenant. Eli died at ninety-eight upon hearing this news. The Philistines put the Ark of the Covenant in their temple by their god. When they came back, the statue of their god had fallen over and was bowing to the Ark. This happened multiple times and more people got sick and rats infested the city. Then they returned the Ark to Israel with a cart and two cows.

The sermon–

“Jesus Creed” by Scot McKnight

What does the Kingdom of God look like?

One chapter in Jesus Creed is entitled A Society of Justice.

What does justice mean? What do you think of when you hear the word justice?

  • a court
  • Rough justice
  • People getting what is coming to them

Two words in the Old Testament, mishpat and tsedeq mean justice, fairness, or righteousness.

In the Bible, justice is God’s will being done on Earth as is in Heaven.

Stephanie then read Luke 4:16-21 which is about Jesus’ Inaugural Address as some people call it.

April read Luke 19:1-10, the story of Zaccheus. What does that story mean to you?

  • Restoration
  • Justice

And Amanda read Luke 10:25-37, the story of the Good Samaritan. What do you notice about that story?

  • Important people ignore the wounded man
  • Samaritans were considered outcasts, yet he helped the wounded man.

Jesus wants us to see those opportunities and take them.ย Do them!

The Jesus Society is the Society of Joy!

It’s interesting that so much of what we, as humans and sinners want, don’t actually make us happy when we get it.

Simeon recommends a book, “Surprised by Joy” by C. S. Lewis

John 2 – Simeon read us one last story and then we closed with the Lord’s Prayer.

Have a great Sunday! ๐Ÿ™‚

Sunday in Review – 9/9/18

Today the Franklin’s hosted church, Simeon read the story, and Justin preached.

The story–

Jesus went to find John who was preaching nearby. John was baptizing many, many people. They wondered who John was. John denied being both Elijah or the Messiah. Jesus and John met (most likely for the first time) and John baptized Jesus. Then the Heavens opened up and God to spoke to the people. “This is My Son in Whom I am well pleased.”

The sermon–

We started with Acts 2 and Justin wanted to talk about conversion. Justin read Acts 2:1-47

What does it mean to surrender? What prompts surrender in a town or in person?

  • Fear
  • Knowing you’re beaten

We read Acts 16, the story of a jailer being converted and then talked about the Roman Empire.

Josh Acts 17:22-34

If you surrender to someone, what does that mean?

  • What happens next is not up to you
  • You gave up
  • You’re recognizing the victory or superiority or the other party.

We gainย wayย more than we lose when we surrender to God.

Justin then read Luke 9:57-62 and we closed with the Lord’s Prayer.

Sunday in Review – 8/12/18

Hello! Today the Wolfe’s hosted church, Justin read the story, and Simeon preached the sermon.

First we read about Hannah giving her son, Samuel to God so Samuel could do work for Him.

Simeon continued preaching from The Jesus Creed by Scot McKnight and talked about some of the characters in the Gospel story.

First We talked about John the Baptist first – what do people know about John?

  • He’s Jesus’ cousin
  • A prophet (the first in a long time)
  • An odd character — he ate crickets and wore camel hair
  • He baptizes people
  • He also baptized Jesus

Tracy then read Matthew 3 out loud and we talked about why God has prophets. The Prophets declare God’s will to the people and frequently warn them and call them to repent. What is John the Baptists message?

  • That things are about to change
  • Repent — he is the prophet of repentance
  • Which means people should change their ways

Then we talked about Jesus’ disciple, Peter. What do people know about Peter? Before Jesus’ resurrection Peter is great but flawed:

  • When Jesus was betrayed, Peter cut off the ear of a soldier
  • But then he betrayed Jesus at the trial
  • Peter walked on water, but took his eyes off Jesus and fell
  • His name was Simon, but Jesus named him Peter when he confessed Jesus – but right after that he rebuked Jesus
  • His character seems kind of impulsive

We read some passages about Peter

  • Mary read Luke 5:1-11
  • April read Matthew 16:13-20
  • Jude read John 21:3-19
  • Eliza and I split reading Acts 2:1-24

We had a discussion after all those readings – Peter’s conversion process is a long one of growth by being with Jesus. McKnight says that we can also be shaped by the stories of the Gospel.

Sunday in Review – 8/5/18

Today the Franklin’s hosted, Simeon read the kids story, and Justin preached from Galatians!

The story today was about Mary and Joseph forgetting Jesus when they left Jerusalem. They had gone a day’s journey already and then discovered that there was no Jesus with them. Back to Jerusalem they went and found Jesus studying with the rabbis — “doing His Father’s business”

For the sermon we read Galatians 6 and an essay by John MacArthur.

Justin lead us in a discussion and shared his thoughts with us. Our minds can become trapped by making burdens we don’t have to bear!

Sunday in Review – 7/22/18

Happy Sunday everyone! A small gathering was hosted today by Amanda. Simeon read the Bible story and also preached the sermon through the book Jesus Creed

This week we continued reading about Jesus going with His family to Jerusalem for Passover and talking to the rabbis and priests. They were amazed at His knowledge!

Simeon also kept going through the book Jesus Creed by Scot McKnight.

Some things we talked about…

  • The different approaches to reading and studying the Bible
  • Different themes in the Gospels
  • Recognizing that God is our Father and He loves us!
  • How Jesus almost always refers to God as Father while praying
  • We read through a few parables like the story of the Prodigal Son
  • We discussed participating in the feast at the end of history – celebrating the Kingdom of God.

 

Sunday in Review – 7/15/18

This week the Franklin’s hosted.

The story for the children was about Joseph, Mary, and Jesus traveling to Jerusalem for the Passover feast.

For the sermon we read through James 5 and the theme of the sermon was confessions.

We talked about…

  • How confessions happen
  • Which religions take part in them
  • The rules of confession

Then Justin read a Lutheran confession and we had a silent moment of confession and prayer.

Lastly, we had an anointing service for Josh and his recent back pains. Get well Josh!

Sunday in Review – 7/8/18

We are officially half way through the year. How crazy is that. ๐Ÿ˜›

This week Amanda hosted us.

Today we read the story about Joseph, Mary, and Baby Jesus fleeing to Egypt because Herod ordered all babies under two killed.

Not the most lovely story… ๐Ÿ™

We are now done with studying Mark and switching over to a more topical sermon for a bit.

Simeon is using a book to base his sermons off of. The book is called “Jesus Creed” by Scot McKnight. (Goodreads)

We talked about…

  • What the word ‘creed’ means
  • Some religious habits of the Jews that Jesus would have practiced
  • The similarities and differences between the Lord’s Prayer and the Kaddish
  • We read over Mark 12:28-34 and talked about how to understand the “greatest command”

 

Sunday in Review – 6/24/18

Hello, today the Wolfe’s hosted us.

Justin read the story of Sampson to the kids.

In the sermon, we studied Mark 16 — the last chapter of Mark

We talked about…

  • The empty tomb and the fear among those who discovered it
  • The message of the angel
  • The reactions of Jesus’ friends to the resurrection
  • Do we believe in this improbable event? Why do we believe? How are we affected?