FG Students (HS)

This week, Matt Densky continues our “10 Practices” series, where we will be talking about 10 daily and weekly practices that can define our faith and bring growth in our life. Matt talks about solitude this week, looking at different times in the gospels where Jesus takes time to intentionally be alone and focus on God. Matt also talks about how solitude might be a time for God to give us direction, to focus in on the will of God for our lives. We challenge you to intentionally separate yourself from things and others once a week to foster a time of listening, reflecting, and being still with God.

This week Hannah Thom opened up our new series, “Highs and Lows,” where we will talk about different mountain top or valley experiences seen in the Bible, and how to navigate those in our own lives with faith and hope in Jesus. We looked at Luke 9:28-36 and the story of the transfiguration, where Peter, John and James all have a literal mountain top experience with Jesus. Peter begins to worship Jesus as a prophet and for what He can do, and worship that mountain top experience. Hannah talked about how often we can do this too, but Jesus deserves our true worship, regardless of our situation. She challenged us to invite Jesus into our valleys and be careful to not just live in those mountain tops.

This week Matt Densky finished up our series, “The Disrupter,” talking about how Jesus disrupts the distance, or the shame in our lives that causes us to feel distant from God. We looked at Luke 5:1-10 where Simon Peter puts distance between himself and Jesus because of the shame he felt. Matt talked about how a lot of times we get this out of order, but the Bible shows us that God loves us in the midst of our sin and that there is grace given for that sin. We finished up the night looking at John 21:1-14, another interaction between Simon Peter and Jesus, post resurrection. Matt talked about how Jesus asks Simon Peter 3 times if he loved him, and wanted Peter to fight the shame he was feeling with truth of God’s love.

This week Matt Densky continued our series, “The Disrupter,” talking about how Jesus disrupts evil. We looked at Mark 5:1-20, where Jesus restores a demon-possessed man. Matt talked about how even demons know who Jesus is and the power He has over evil. He also talked about how no one is out of Jesus’ reach or vision. Jesus sees this man in Mark 5 as a person, not an inconvenience and He sees us that way, too. Matt challenges us to decide how we respond to this story - like the people begging Jesus to leave or the man begging to go with Jesus.

This week Matt Densky continued our series, “The Disrupter,” talking about how Jesus disrupts our fear. We looked at Mark 4:35-41, when the disciples are afraid of the storm and intimidated by Jesus. They were filled with great fear, no faith, and we still do the same today. Matt talked about some different ideas in culture that create fears and anxieties in us today and how we need to continually renew our minds, giving Jesus room to calm the storms in our own lives. Matt challenges us to limit the distractions, really understand who Jesus is, and change our fear into faith.

This week Matt Densky continued our series, “The Disrupter,” talking about how Jesus disrupts our participation - meaning our participation in the world of being separated from the world versus being immersed in the world. We looked at Daniel 1:1-8, when Daniel has to hold his ground against the king, being the model for how we should approach faith. Matt talked about how our faith puts us against the values of the world, and we are constantly in a balancing act of having grace for others and obeying God’s truth.

This week Dallas Greenaway started our new middle school series called “Choose Your Own Adventure” where we will be talking about 4 spiritual disciplines of living the Christian life. Dallas talked about spending time with God this week and how knowing God is an adventure, not a formula, and also how life with Jesus brings rest. We looked at Matthew 11:25-30 where Jesus says “come to me, and I will give you rest.” Dallas challenged us to look at our lives and if we are walking alongside Jesus, maybe meaning resting in Him by sitting in silence, solitude and stillness.

This week Matt Densky continued our series, “The Disrupter,” talking about how Jesus disrupts the box - the boxes that we end up putting God in. We looked at Luke 24:13-32, when Jesus encounters the two men on the road to Emmaus after His resurrection. They thought Jesus was going to do more than He did when He was alive, and they were upset and didn’t know how to trust HIm. Matt encouraged us to think about all of the times we do this in our lives, limiting Him to our “box” ideas of what we want from Jesus. We will never see Jesus for who He truly is as long as we contain Him to the box.

This week Dallas Greenaway continued our series, “The Disrupter,” talking about how Jesus disrupts our brand - our purpose and influence on others. We looked at Matthew 5:14-16 and how we can be salt and light in this world, influencing others for the kingdom. Dallas talked about Jesus’ brand and purpose and how He was always concerned with the person right in front of Him. Dallas challenged us to think about how well we are loving those closest to us with our: speech, attitude, actions and “private” life (thoughts, heart, etc). We hope you enjoy this message! 

This week Matt Densky continued our series, “The Disrupter,” talking about how Jesus disrupts our religion, especially toxic beliefs in religion. We look at Luke 15 and how the religious Pharisees accuse Jesus of hanging out with sinners. Matt goes over 5 signs of a toxic religion that can affect how we view Jesus: preferring distance, creating good/bad categories, behavior earns God’s love, anger and jealousy coming out when others are forgiven, and being numb to others who are far from God. We hope you learn from this and enjoy this message!