Passage: Phil 3:8, 10; Heb 10:25

A technologically driven world leads to the idolatry of busyness. It also dissolves human connection. We can’t lose what makes us special: each other.

Key Takeaways:

• Busyness has become our idol; if we aren’t producing or advancing, culture says we’re falling behind.
• The worst side effect of technological advancement is the destruction of human connection.
• Many things in life are good, but only one thing is truly important—Jesus.
• Making Jesus your everything is a group project; it doesn’t succeed without human connection.
• We have willingly traded relationship and fellowship for solitude and screens.
• None of us was meant to be an island; God designed us for fellowship.
• Streaming and remote connection should never take the place of the full fellowship of believers.
• Satan works in isolation—and that isolation is never more dangerous than when he has convinced us we are supremely connected.

Passage: 1 Peter 2:11

The focus on what divides us leads to division. Political, social, and academic infiltration causes disunity in the church. We must focus on what binds us together.

Key Takeaways:

• Focusing on what divides us causes division; focus instead on what binds us together in Christ.
• Nothing outweighs the fact that we are brothers and sisters in Christ.
• Christians are to submit to governing authorities unless asked to go against the will of God.
• Rebelling against God-ordained authority on the grounds of dislike is rebelling against God Himself.
• Your allegiance, your causes, and your vote belong to the Lord—nothing is yours.
• No political candidate can do for you what Christ has done; don’t make politicians into idols—or idols of hatred.
• Christ must not be divided—the only division that should exist is whether something is of Christ or not.
• Fix your eyes on Jesus; His kingdom is not of this world.

Passage: Matt 4:4, Jn 2:14, Eph 6:17, Eph 4:13-14, 1 Cor 13:12

Lack of foundational knowledge leads to a shallow understanding of faith and an inability to connect Scripture to contemporary life.

Key Takeaways:

• There is no substitute for knowing the Word of God—for our own protection and for discipling others.
• It is better to obey God’s Word than to satisfy human desires.
• All Scripture is God-breathed and useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness.
• Christ does not abolish the Law; He fulfills it—the Old Testament remains vital and life-changing.
• Sanctification comes by the truth, and the Word is truth.
• When you deny the authority of Scripture, you deny Christ.
• If God never spoke again and the Spirit never moved, the Word would still be enough to sustain.
• God does not contradict Himself—anything that does not align with Scripture must be thrown away.

Passage: 1 Peter 2:11-16; Romans 13; Matthew 28:18; Matthew 7:13-14; Gen 3

The matter of right and wrong is extremely important for Christians. What is our source of truth, and who do we look to as our authority? The answer should be God; culture wants to take this duty from Him.

Key Takeaways:

• Right and wrong are not subjective—feelings cannot be trusted as our authority.
• The only authority worthy of trust is God the Father, Christ the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
• This world is not our home and therefore must not be our authority.
• There is no room for the intermingling of sin and righteousness.
• True love keeps the commandments; it does not leave others comfortable in their sin.
• The gospel is for everybody, but it bends to no one.
• Our God is not a God of acceptance—He is a God of deliverance.
• Too many are serving a god of their own creation; that god does not exist.

Passage: Isaiah 54-55

Isaiah calls us to sing! The response to Christ’s work in His death and resurrection is praise. We must sing! We must worship! We must praise!

Key Takeaways:

• Presently choose what's right for the promised glory to come.
• Avoid the service of self in favor of the service of the Savior.
• Idolatry takes the place of true worship when we worship God only for what He does for us, not for who He is.
• Whoever takes refuge in the Lord will inherit the land.
• There is no peace for the wicked—repentance is the key.
• Repentance isn't about wickedness; it's about hope.
• True repentance leaves us different than we were before—bear the fruit of proof.
• One day every knee will bow; search your heart, know the truth, and be different.

Passage: Isaiah 53:10-12

Christ longed for the other side of the cross. He spoke of it often. This week, we get to peek inside the inner workings of Christ as we see His maturation as Savior, built upon the nurturing of Scripture.

Key Takeaways:

• Familial ties exist in Christianity because we all share in the blood of Christ.
• Wrath being satisfied by Christ, God can treat people with everlasting kindness and covenant loyalty.
• Peace and safety are the final conditions of those who trust in the Lord.
• Come what may, God is in control—that decision starts today.
• Salvation is a free gift because Christ already paid for it.
• Stop spending yourself on what does not satisfy; look to Jesus.
• God's ways are not our ways—you don't have to make grace make sense.
• Come, you who are weary, and find rest; come, you sinners, and find forgiveness.

Passage: Isaiah 53:7-9

They rejected Him! Friends turned their backs on Him. The government washed its hands of Him. The Pharisees lied about Him. The soldiers beat Him. The crowd spit on Him. How great the injustice that points to the injustice of the Gospel.

Key Takeaways:

• The Servant's death was God's will—His life wasn't taken from Him; it was given for you.
• Jesus' perfection in living allowed His death to meet the substitutionary standards of God.
• Because Christ's death wasn't the end of His story, our death doesn't have to be the end of ours.
• Christ holds the keys to heaven.
• Grace is powerful—but stop testing it and commit already.
• Through Christ, death leads to life; you must die to self.
• Your sin struggle does not have to define you.
• Willing obedience is the key to exaltation—Christ gave God what God wanted most: the possibility of you.

Passage: Isaiah 52:13-53:6

Christ’s suffering seemed to confirm the worst fears of His followers. He wasn’t actually the Messiah, after all. How could the Son of God be destroyed by man? But the world’s rejection of Christ turned out to be in our favor.

Key Takeaways:

• True wisdom is obeying the will of God.
• The Servant had to be lifted to the cross in order to be lifted high.
• God is the ultimate restoration specialist—He takes what is discarded and makes it useful beyond comprehension.
• Christ was made nothing to give us everything.
• Our sinful eyes will deceive us when we rely on ourselves for life-altering decisions.
• The responsibility for the cross lies at your feet.
• By His wounds we are healed.
• Christ's physical agony is the means to your spiritual peace.

Passage: Isaiah 50:4-11

Isaiah 50 tells of the obedience required by a follower of Christ. It wasn’t just that Christ was innocent; it was that He was obedient to death.

Key Takeaways:

• Humility is required for obedience.
• Discernment is required for obedience—God opens our ears to recognize truth.
• In the worst of circumstances, the Servant was obedient and submissive.
• Obedience requires faith that God has the final say.
• We aren't held accountable for people's response to our obedience—only that we were obedient.
• The value of your faith isn't displayed until it's truly all you have left.
• Obey the word of God even in the dark; don't light your own fires and pave your own way.
• The prize of obedience is newness of life—there is no promise of renewal without the resurrection.

Passage: Isaiah 49:1-13

Who is our Savior? Isaiah 49 seeks to provide clarity as we answer that question. Christ is either the Savior prophesied by the Old Testament, or He is a fraud. This week, we look at what the Old Testament says about our Savior’s identity.

Key Takeaways:

• God destined you for a glorious purpose from your mother's womb.
• Without accountability, the cross is worthless.
• Jesus is not only Savior and love—He will hold you accountable.
• Unlike Israel, the Servant never failed nor forsook God.
• We do the work of the Father without regard for the outcome, and leave the reward in the Lord's hands.
• It was too small a thing for the Servant to restore only Israel—salvation reaches the ends of the earth.
• All that matters is whether you are covered by the blood.
• The story ends in joy: the Lord comforts His people and has compassion on His afflicted ones.