Encounter at Illinois State University / ISU

In this parable, we see people who are entrusted with differing resposibilities by the master. The only worker reprimanded was the one who did nothing out of fear. Jesus doesn’t require success. He does require you to offer what has been given to you back to Him. What has been given to you that He may desire to multiply?

(Matt 25:14-30)

We desire God to move and work in our lives.  Yet when He uses a particular tool to do just that, we begin to obsess about that tool and forget the One who gave it.

(Mk 2:18-3:6, Heb 13:8, Mal 3:6, Rev 1:8, James 1:17, Ps 90:2, Jn 8:58, Is 43:19, Matt 23:4, Gal 3:24-25, Heb 7:19, I Kings 19:9-18, Ex 3, Luke 5)

In our current age, we see through a glass, darkly.  But God has promised that there is a time coming where he will remake and restore our world.  And He’s a God who keeps His promises.

(Rev 21:1-5, I Cor 13:12, Gen 2:17, Gen 3, Jn 16:33, I Peter 5:8, Eph 6:12, Rom 5:17-18, I Cor 15:22, Gen 15:13, Ex 14:29-30, Isaiah 7,9,11,53, Micah 5:2, Num 23:19, Josh 21:45, Josh 23:14, Jn 14:1-3, Jn 6:40, Heb 9:28)

Joseph seems to attract favor and trouble everywhere he goes.  God gives him a unique gift that becomes a turning point in one of his darkest moments.  What gifts has God given us?  How do we discover and use those gifts?

(Gen 36-46, Prov 3:35, I Cor 12:14-21, Eph 4:11-14, Jn 3:8)

Abraham and Sarah decide they have waited long enough, and have a child with their maidservant Hagar. They twist God’s promise to the point of justifying sin to make it happen. Our desire to bypass God’s timing will never produce the result he intended. (Sarah’s plan quickly results in her own jealousy and hatred)

This week we hear how 3 people’s stories of rushing God’s timing.

Moses looks at his own resources and knows they don’t equal the task at hand.  If Moses would dare to lift his eyes up, he’d realize his human limitations are not God’s limitations.

(Ex 3-4, Acts 7:22, Matt 14:14-21, Gen 50:20, Rom 8:28, 1 Cor 1:27, Acts 4:13, 2 Cor 12:9, Matt 21:42, Phil 3:7-8, Is 64:6, Gal 2:20, 2 Cor 5:17, Rom 8:1, Rom 8:14-15, Jn 15:15, Matt 28:20, Jn 14:16, Jn 14:7, Rom 8:9, Eph 1:3, I Cor 12:7, Jn 16:13, Rom 8:11, Jn 14:12, Rom 8:31, Matt 16:18)

In a desperate moment, Moses lets his anger get the better of him and murders a man.  This turning point may teach us some things about sin that we allow in our own lives.

(Ex 2:11-15, I Jn 1:5, Eph 5:18, Rom 6:12, James 1:14-15, Numbers 32:23, 2 Cor 5:23, Is 1:18, Lam 3:22-23, Jn 16:8, I Jn 1:9, 2 Cor 7:10, James 5:16-17, Matt 5:23-24, Ps 34:14, Eph 6, Ps 119:11, Heb 12:1-2, I Peter 5:8-9, Matt 5:29, Prov 4:14-15, Gen 39:7)

Good stories have sad chapters, good stories change you, good stories challenge you. And we know God is a good author of your story.

(John 9)

We see a picture of a perfect Garden in Genesis and in Revelation, but in between those gardens is another garden, one of suffering.  What does it mean to live a life of faith in a world where we can expect trouble and suffering?

(Mark 14:32-42, Heb 4:15, Jn 16:33, Neh 8:10, Luke 4:13, Matt 26:52-53, I Cor 10:13, Jn 17:14, Matt 5:4, Ps 34:18, Ps 147:3, James 1:3, Rom 8:28)

Jesus loves to provide invitations that beckon us beyond our barriers.  But when we ignore too many of his invitations, the opportunities God provides may start to look more like obstacles.

(Acts 9:1-19, Acts 22:3, Phil 3:5, James 4:6, 2 Chron 16:9, Psalm 23)