Call to worship:
1 Praise the Lord!
Praise God in his sanctuary;
praise him in his mighty heavens![a]
2 Praise him for his mighty deeds;
praise him according to his excellent greatness!3 Praise him with trumpet sound;
praise him with lute and harp!
4 Praise him with tambourine and dance;
praise him with strings and pipe!
5 Praise him with sounding cymbals;
praise him with loud clashing cymbals!
6 Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord!Psalm 150:1-6
Gathering Video
Questions for reflection:
How do you see opposition meet the opportunities God has brought about?
In what ways does Jesus meet us in our shock, grief, longing, and hope?
What does it look like for the content and curriculum of our discipleship to be Christ?
Corporate Prayer:
Our Father in Heaven,
Hallowed by 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, and we forgive 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.
Notes//Quotes//Slides:
Acts 14:1-28
Assumption: Every day for Jesus' first followers were God-soaked. Something is wrong with me, or I am doing something wrong because I don't have many God-soaked days.
Reality: Scripture authors recorded a truncated history to show us who God is. Jesus and the first followers experienced many mundane days.
Contextualization is not - as is often argued - ‘telling people what they want to hear.’ Rather, it is giving people the Bible’s answers, which they may not at all want to hear, to questions about life that people in their particular place and time are asking, in language and forms they can comprehend, and through appeals and arguments with force they can feel, even if they reject them - Tim Keller