As we continue to set our eyes on God, being reminded of his never-changing nature in the midst of an ever-changing world, we are given hope and peace. But hope and peace don't come simply from recognizing God's holiness, love, and power. For these characteristics to be truly comforting the God of holiness, love, and, power must be near. He must be with us.

Application Questions:

1. How can you practically meditate on Psalm 139 this week (reading it, memorizing it, praying through it, etc.)?
2. Why is it comforting that God knows everything?
3. Why is it comforting that God is present with you?
4. Why is it comforting that God has always been with you?
5. Of the three responses modeled in the Psalm (intimate comfort, righteous anger, humble surrender), which are most familiar and which do you need to seek to develop?

Power is something we all look to as a means of having purchase on our lives. But God's power is overwhelmingly greater than anything else in the universe, which rightly elicits fear. But God's power is for us and changes everything in our lives, providing comfort and peace that nothing can touch.

Application Questions:

1. What are some ways you have related to power poorly or looked to it in the wrong way?
2. How have you failed to understand the depths of God's power?
3. What would it look like to meditate on the power of God?
4. How does Jesus laying down his power (and you laying down yours) bring you comfort in crisis?

Christianity is not about following a bunch of rules, or practicing a bunch of rituals. Christianity is fundamentally about having a relationship with God. There is a difference between knowing thingsaboutGod, and knowing Godrelationally. To know Godrelationallymeans to know Him deeply and personally,andit means to be knownby Himdeeply and personally. Jesus calls us to this kind of vibrant relationship by commanding us to "abide" in Him.

Application Questions:

1. What does it mean to "abide" in Jesus?
2. How are faith and repentance related to one another?
3. What is the difference between knowingaboutGod and knowing God relationally?
4. Why is it so important to also be knownby God, and what are steps you can take to grow in that area?

Easter is the event that gives Christians hope that can't be taken away. When we look closely at the resurrection, letting it challenge our assumptions, and see what it means for our lives, we can be grounded and stable in a new way whatever comes next. In the midst of a global pandemic, the resurrection points a way forward, not just to this life but beyond.

Application Questions:

1. How have you experienced the difference between wishful thinking and realistic hope?
2. How do you respond to the idea that Jesus died for your sins? Why does Paul think it's a joyful, hope-filled idea that you should build your life on?
3. Where do you normally look for hope? How does Jesus' resurrection provide a better, deeper hope?
4. How can the hope Jesus' gives keep you secure as we live out the rest of this pandemic and beyond?

In times of uncertainty and crisis, more than anything we need to be reminded of the truth of who God. But we need to know more than justaboutGod. We need to know God himself. To know God is to be loved, because God is love. This week we look at exactly what that means, and how it gives us comfort and hope in the midst of any storm.

Application Questions:

1. What sources, other than Scripture, tend to inform your functional definition of love?
2. How is God's love different than what the world calls "love"?
3. What is one thing you can that would help you be reminded of the love of God each day this week?
4. What is one way you can love someone in your house, apartment, or apartment building with Christ-like love.
5. What is one way you can love someone outside of your home with Christ-like love?
6. Who do you know that needs to be reminded of God's love for them this week? How will you try to help remind them?

As we begin our series on Knowing God, we look at one of the overarching attributes of God: his holiness. While we often diminish the idea of God being holy as though it's not a very big deal, Isaiah teaches us differently: the holiness of God is something that comes uncomfortably close to us and changes us when we are exposed to it. It's an overwhelming and undoing experience, and it leads us to something amazing: grace greater than our sin and security we can have in God himself.

Application Questions:

1. What difference would it make if you thought about God's holiness more often?
2. What stands out to you about the connection between God's holiness and the grace he gives through Jesus?
3. How can you encourage yourself to meditate on God's holiness this week?

Knowing God is what anchors Christians in good times and bad. As we begin a series on the attributes of God, we first have to learn what it means to get to know God. Instead of learning more about God, the Bible teaches us to learn more of God in relationship with him. When we see how deeply and widely we can know the God of the universe, we find stability in unstable times and joy in places we didn't expect.

Application Questions:

1. How would you describe the difference between knowing God and knowing about God?
2. How have you experienced that in your own life?
3. How can knowing God anchor you through the coming week, whatever you may face?

As we wrap up the book of James, we find a closing exhortation to take what we've learned and strive to love those around us with it.In most sermons you would normally be encouraged to refrain from thinking about the person sitting next to you, and to instead make sure you're considering your own heart. But in today's passage we are called to take all that we have learned over the past six months, and all the warnings we have heard, and consider those God has placed around us in our lives. God is calling us to be the delivery mechanism of his message to those who desperately need it. And the stakes couldn't be higher.

Application Questions

1. Of all the instructions and warnings we've heard in James over the past six months, which have most significantly shaped your life over that time?
2. Is pursuing friends who wander from the truth something you've done?
3. Share a time you did so, and what happened (without disclosing the details of the situation).
4. Of the ways we are called to speak truth to wanderers that were discussed in the sermon, which do you find the most difficult and why?
-With Humility
-With Gentleness
-With Consistency
-With Boldness
-With Prayer
5. What generally motivates you to try to bring back those that are wandering? Do you recognize the stakes being as serious as James describes?
6. Is there anyone in your life that you ought to be pursuing as you seek to obey the call we've heard in this passage?

James closes his letter exhorting us to pray—and not just when things are bad. Prayer is a recognition that we have a Father who gives good gifts, and who is available to us any time in any situation. What's more, prayer actually has effects in the real world. James invites us to experience the power of a relationship with God in our own lives as we bring everything to God in prayer.

Application Questions

1. What circumstances drive you to prayer? What circumstances drive you away from prayer?
2. What are some ways you don't appreciate the power of prayer? What could you be praying for more fervently than you are now?
3. How can you create a habit of directing your thoughts to God throughout your day?

In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus tells us to "let our yes be our yes", and James reiterates the same command. In Jesus's day people would swear oaths on things of the earth in order to get out of their commitments, and in order to manipulate others. Christ calls Christians to keep their commitments (and only make commitments we plan on keeping), and He calls Christians to speak with humble truthfulness, without manipulation, in love. Just as God keeps His promises and speaks openly and truthfully to us, so also we are called to keep our promises and speak openly and truthfully to others.

Application Questions

1. Are you over committed to too many activities? How can you grow in saying "no" to what you should say "no"?
2. Are you-under-committed-? How can you grow in saying "yes" to the things to which God wants you to say "yes"?
3. Do you ever speak manipulatively? Are you ever passive-aggressive? Do you ever gossip? Do you speak to others with an agenda, or see others as a "project"? What does repentance look like for these sinful ways of speaking?
4. How does God's promise-speaking and truth-speaking free you to speak with integrity?