God's Word

How sweet it is to come to a place of seeing our need for grace.  It is even sweeter to experience Gods amazing grace.  It feels like rain in a dry and hot desert.  Last week we saw Jonah in the belly of a great fish praising God.  Where have you come to see the need for Gods grace in your life?

This week we are going to look at Jonah chapter 3.  The wicked city is overturned just like Jonah had said in chapter 3:4, but not in the way he expected. Come and explore with us the surprising power of the Word of God.

FYI - Grow Group Electives are starting!  If you are not already in a Sunday School Class join us at 9:15am this Sunday. 

I Am Second

Alex Falder, Rm 107
My story is that I’ve surrendered my life to Christ and I am second. We will explore how our story is a part of God’s story and experience the transforming power of following Christ as we become second. Whether you are exploring Christ, growing in Christ, stuck in relationships or flourishing, everyone has a story. Join us for seven weeks as we share our stories and discuss scriptures.
Evangelism 101 Continues*
*This is a change To whaT was previously announced.
Dave Phillips, Room 122, off gym
Discover Your Passion
Carrie Makin, Rm 112, west hallway
What are you passionate about? Maybe you’re too busy to be pas- sionate about anything, but God has equipped you with gifts, skills and a heart for others. Discover what you’ve been equipped with as we walk through exercises that will help define gifts, talents, personal style, and passions.
Real Faith Continues

Scott Makin, Counseling Center Conference Room. Discover how to apply the Christian faith in the messiness of “real life” and difficult times. 

Belly of the Whale

Jonah is a real dude.  What I love about him is that his struggles are our struggles.  We often run from the hard things in life.  We will often go to sleep, isolating ourselves to avoid the storm.  Loving your enemy is difficult. Dealing with your heart’s intention is scary and raw. Last week we learned that God is at work in the middle of all that is going on around us and in our lives.  At some point, just like Jonah, we are brought into the reality of our situation. In response to his reality, Jonah gave up his life to the sea and was rescued by a whale. The Death and Resurrection of Jonah is pointing us to Jesus who is now our rescuer.  Could it be true that when we lose our life for Christ’s sake that we gain life to the fullest?  Could we truly experience rescue and redemption as we are in our own “belly of the whale”?

Read Jonah Chapter 2 in preparation for Sunday where we will discover the key truths God is teaching us through this story.

The storms

Jonah is more than a big fish story.  Last week we found Jonah running from the hard thing God gave him to do.  The key truth about us is that we love to run to Tarshish…it is nice there.  God’s redemption plan is many times in the hard places.

This week we will look at Jonah 1:4-17.  As you prepare for Sunday, think about the “storms” in your life or in the world that sin and brokenness have caused. 

See you Sunday,

Alex 

Reaching us

Does God use the world to teach us, change us and mold us to be more Christ-like?  As Christians, we are working hard to tell the unchristian world to turn to God but maybe at the same time God is using the unbelieving world to reach us.   It is God who saves and it is God who is abounding in love for, in this case, Nineveh…..Jonah’s enemy.  God teaches Jonah about godly character by the world he was sent to preach. Lets look at Jonah’s story to discover God’s abounding in Love character and what we can learn from the world as we live out the truth and grace of Jesus. 

I encourage you to read the book of Jonah several time during the course of this series.  If you are tight on time just read chapter one for Sunday.