Call to worship:
4 May all who seek you
rejoice and be glad in you!
May those who love your salvation
say evermore, “God is great!”
5 But I am poor and needy;
hasten to me, O God!
You are my help and my deliverer;
O Lord, do not delay!Psalm 70:4-5
Gathering Video
Questions for reflection:
What is your typical way for finding direction in life?
How does the wisdom of scripture direct us in our decision making?
What does surrendering, asking, listening, consulting, and going look like for you?
Corporate Prayer:
Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Yours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever, amen.
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Notes//Quotes//Slides:
Proverbs 4:20-27
“Listen to your life. See it for the fathomless mystery it is. In the boredom and pain of it, no less than in the excitement and gladness: touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it, because in the last analysis all moments are key moments, and life itself is grace.” - Frederick Beuchner
The father is vitally concerned to keep his son moving on the right path in his life. In many ways, this discourse is an admonition like the previous one. It does not mention God explicitly, but by invoking the two-path theology, it does so implicitly, since the father’s path is the one that is associated with God. The admonition to the son here is to focus all of his energies on staying on the right path and avoiding the evil path. Again, this underlines the idea that wisdom entails a lifetime of work and not a single decision. - Tremper Longman
Matthew 7:13-14
“A major part of godliness lies in dogged attentiveness to familiar truths. So a kind of medical inspection follows, in which one’s state of readiness in the various realms symbolized by heart, mouth, eyes and feet, comes under review.” - Derek Kidner
The way of freedom isn’t found in grasping for God’s omniscience, but in grasping for God’s hand.This freedom, though, isn’t synonymous with safety. In fact, sometimes it’s risky. Bethany Jenkins
Surrendering
Asking
Listening
Consulting
Going
When despair for the world grows in me and I wake in the night at the least sound in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be, I go and lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds. I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief. I come into the presence of still water. And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting with their light. For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
Wendell Berry
“Love God and do whatever you will: for the soul trained in love to God will do nothing to offend the One who is Beloved.” - Augustine
Prov 16:1-3
Prov 16:9
“I see an opportunity. I don’t see anybody else taking the opportunity. I feel an obligation to come. I think it’s a good idea. I think God’s calling me. But I can’t be absolutely sure. I can be sure that I must not lie; it’s in the Bible. I can be sure that I must not bow down to idols; it’s in the Bible. I’m sure of a lot of things that are God’s will. But as far as I know, I won’t be sure that I’m called to plant a church until it happens.” When people would persist, saying, “Didn’t you have a peace about it?” I’d reply: “No, it was too hard of a decision. It was too scary. But I know this: guidance is as much something God does as it is something he gives. Therefore, I knew that by selling my house and moving up here and signing a three-year lease that, if I failed to plant a church, God was preparing me for something I couldn’t envision.” - Tim Keller