Stories Around the Campfire

Sermon: Burning Bush Excuses

Pastor: Noah Reed

Exodus 3:1-10

Stories Around the Campfire

Sermon: Setbacks and Snakebites

Pastor: Len DenBraber

Acts 28:1-6

Stories Around the Campfire

Sermon: Jesus Cooked Breakfast

Pastor: Jim Lucas

John  21:1-14

Sermon Summary:

Everyone messes up! We all have moments when we are less than faithful, less than what we would hope to be.  How does Jesus respond to our failures? We all have experienced bosses or parents who have completely gone off the rails when offended by others.  We have all experienced that kind of poisonous response to failure that leaves us a bit traumatized.  Maybe we think Jesus is like that. He's not! This week's scripture gives us a wonderful and comforting insight into how Jesus responds to our failures.

The Truth About Lies

Sermon: A Humble Resistance

Pastor: Phil Juthman

James 4:1-10

The Truth About Lies

Sermon: You Should Make You Happy

Pastor: Jim Lucas

Proverbs 14:12

Sermon Summary:

Come next week and learn about the lies the world tells us, how to avoid them and the consequences of our choices.

The Truth About Lies

Sermon: Life's Not Fair

Pastor: Troy Neilsen

Matthew 25:14-30

Sermon Summary

“That’s not fair!” Has been spoken by kids around the world for centuries. Whether it was because someone got a bigger piece of cake or not being able to stay up late at night. Now, many adults around the world are now grown up and “fairness” is something that we might even complain about. "Life should be fair" is something that many of us think should happen, but what does Jesus say about that? Does he make life fair?

This week we’ll look at a story where Jesus shows us that life isn’t fair and never was intended to be. What he talks about is what we should do when we see that life isn’t fair.

The Truth About Lies

Sermon: The Devil Made Me Do It

Pastor: Phil Juthman

John 8:44

Sermon Summary

BIG IDEA: The root of Satan’s deception lies in leading us to consider our own will before God’s will. When we take the driver’s seat in deciding what is right and wrong we push God away from us and set ourselves up as god and experience the shame and hurt of sin. In contrast, by submitting to God we discover great freedom, beauty and life.

It can be a tricky thing to figure out why we do the things we do. We have an incredible capacity for goodness and love, but also great ability to hurt and hate. Lying in the center of this is the scheme of the Devil, who uses lies to lure us away from God’s good order back into chaos. Satan leads this rebellion by tempting us to put what we want before what God wants, separating us from Him. By examining Genesis 1-3 we discover that God’s boundaries are good for us because they keep us in His presence. We can guard ourselves against the lies of Satan through the journey of submitting our lives to the will and promises of God by Christ’s saving work for humanity. What Satan tricked Adam and Eve into, Jesus undoes on the cross!

Questions for discussion:

1. There are often two extremes: ‘The devil makes us do it’ vs. ‘The devil isn’t real’. How do you think scripture communicates the reality of ‘the Devil’?

2. Pastor Phil talked about the idea that we have freedom in boundaries. Do you have any experiences where having boundaries actually ended up helping you?

3. Discuss this thought: We don’t get to decide what is good and evil. How can we communicate this well to a culture that is set on the idea of discovering our own truths?

4. What are some promises of God that you regularly hold onto that help you defend against the temptation toward sin?

The Truth About Lies

Sermon: The World, The Flesh, and The Devil

Pastor: Jim Lucas

Ephesians 6:11-12

Sermon Summary

The Big Idea of this study is that we are in a battle over truth. We must be more aware that we fight this battle on three fronts: the world, the flesh and the devil.

We are beginning a new series this week. We are indebted to John Mark Comer’s excellent book, "Live no Lies" for stimulating some of our thinking, reading and praying on this topic. There is no doubt that the people of God are in a battle to remain faithful and keep following Jesus. We fight this battle on three fronts, what we sometimes refer to as the unholy trinity: the world, the flesh and the devil. By the world we mean the ways of the world or society that move contrary to the ways of Jesus. By the flesh we refer to the disordered desires of our minds and bodies that lead to destructive behavior and thinking. By the devil we mean the enemy of our souls that Jesus warned us about so often in the Gospels.

This week we learn that we need to be very aware that the devil is a liar and that his deceptions often capture the attention of the world because they appeal to our fleshly natures. Once the lie has taken hold in culture it is often weaponized and used to attack the Church and make us appear to be antagonistic to the way things really should be. We are marginalized and portrayed as out of step with reality and judgmental. Ephesians 6 warns us to be alert and pray to counteract the schemes of the enemy.

Questions for Discussion:

1. Do you think generally speaking that the Church takes evil and the devil seriously enough? Do people outside the Church believe in the devil’s existence? Why or why not?

2. Discuss the difference between the offensive and defensive strategies of the Church. How does prayer fit in?

3. Review and discuss the 5 schemes of the devil: Temptation; Accusation; Intimidation; Deception; and Division.

4. Can you think of other lies of the enemy that have become entrenched as truth in our culture?

5. What is Paul’s council in order for us to stand firm in the truth?

6. Can you make prayer in this regard a part of your normal devotional routine?

How Does God Grow Your Faith?

Sermon: When Jesus Brings Friends Into Our Lives

Pastor: Jim Lucas

Romans 16:1-16

Sermon Summary

The Big Idea of this study is that friendship is a huge factor in growing our faith. Even the Apostle Paul, the gifted author and orator, encircled himself with good friendships.

One of the remarkable things about our text this week is that the Apostle Paul has never visited the church in Rome, yet he has so many good friends there. This tells us not only that Paul was not a lone ranger kind of Christian, he worked well with others. It also tells us that in the 1st Century people were pretty mobile in that Paul has encountered these folks in places other than their home town. Keep in mind that Claudius expelled Jews from Rome around 41-52 AD (Acts 18:2).

Most of the people Paul addresses are slaves or freemen and freewomen who had bought themselves out of slavery. But while they were slaves they were also important people. Slaves in the 1st Century were often highly educated and carried on much of the skilled labour of the Empire. Slaves managed much of the household and government affairs.

Paul mentions 24 friends in Rome, many of whom were women who labored with him. The letter carrier (Phoebe) probably had an important role in reading and interpreting the letter to the church. Junia, another woman, is called an apostle. Keep in mind the New Testament uses the term Apostle in a strict sense to identify the first disciples of Jesus and also in a broader sense as those “sent out” by the church to serve the Lord. But even given this secondary meaning, he identifies a woman as someone sent out by the church. Whatever we make of passages like 1 Cor. 14:34 and 1 Tim. 2:11-15 we see that Paul is not a misogynist (woman hater).

Questions for Discussion:

1. Have you found that Covid has diminished your circle of friends? Why or why not?

2. Why do you think Paul takes the time to mention his friends in Rome? Would that help his letter to be better received?

3. What are the key qualities that you look for in good friends?

4. Where can you go to find and connect with new friends?

5. Have you ever had to cut off a friendship that you felt was unhealthy? Why?

6. What are some habits that you might try to enhance the quality of your friendships?

How Does God Grow Your Faith?

Sermon: Pivotal Moments

Pastor: Troy Neilsen

Acts 16:6- 10

Sermon Summary

The Big Idea of this study is that we need to realize that there are pivotal moments in our lives that are opportunities for growth.

For many of us we have goals, we want to make a certain amount of money, have a certain kind of job, and have a certain size of a house. And what we do is put a plan into place and we work to see it accomplished. But what happens when that doesn’t happen? How do we react?

For some of us it looks like a road block, or a detour, or even a fork in the road, a moment where our lives have to pivot. It’s probably not even a huge event; it’s just something that happens to us.

This week, we are talking about how these everyday interruptions happen in our lives and how they can help you grow your faith.

This is where we are going this week: We are going to talk about seeing God in those everyday events and growing through them.

Questions for Discussion:

1. There are some people who love planning out their whole lives almost to the minute, any interruption they might view as an annoyance. Then there are those who love to take whatever comes their way, they feel like life is an adventure. Which of these two do you most identify with and why?

2. Read Acts 16:6 -10. After being as successful as Paul and Silas were, how do you think you would have handled that situation? What is your fallback behaviour when you don’t get what you want?

3. Read Proverbs 16:9. If God really determines our steps, how do we tell if it is really Him? How do we know that we are not just following what we want in our life?

4. In hindsight, is there anything that has happened in your life that when you were experiencing it, it seemed like bad news, but only after time did you see it as a good thing? Share that experience with your group.