Verses Used:

• Galatians 4:1-12
• Galatians 3:8
• Ephesians 1:4-5

Takeaways:

• Heirs - Paul uses the analogy of being an heir, something is coming in the future, but not knowing it right away. He is referring to God having good things in store for his people, and that it is coming.
• We get to share in the reward of Jesus because he was/is perfect. Even though we don’t really deserve it, we get to be in the royal family.
• Understanding our inheritance as God’s kids, his heirs radically changes our perspective.
• Adopted into the family - As adopted children, we can enjoy the same favor Jesus has with the Father.
• A waste of Grace - Galatians started out in grace but had a hard time continuing in grace.
• The Galatians had lost perspective, started to listen to the wrong voices, and drifted into lies about needing to keep the law instead of trusting in the grace of God through faith.

Verses Used:

• Galatians 3:1-14
• Hebrews 11:6 (ESV - NLT - TLB)

Takeaways:

• There is a common thread running through every world religion: I do what my god wants, therefore I am accepted.
• Christianity teaches: There is nothing I can do to get right with God on my own. I trust in the finished work of Jesus Christ, therefore I am accepted. I am accepted, therefore, out of love and relationship, I obey God.
• The only thing we can do to please God is to trust Jesus and put your faith in Him.
• Faith is enough.
•  At first our faith in Jesus is enough, but over time we start trying to keep up our own righteousness. 
• Faith is enough, but what about living by faith?
• Living by faith. 
• We talk about defining discipleship as moving from unbelief to belief in every area in life in light of the gospel.
• Stop trying harder or striving to be better, but rather, believe the truth of the gospel and live by faith.
• Living in grace.
• Living in grace is tough, we love law. It gives us a sense of how we are doing like a scorecard. We need to embrace the grace that Jesus offers us and rest in His righteousness on our behalf.

Discussion Questions:

• How does a Christian please God? 
• What area of your life is the hardest to trust God with right now? Why?
• How might God be growing your faith through your circumstances?
• Tim Keller asks the question, “Do we grow spiritually by ‘being good’ or by repenting of ‘being good?’” 
• What do you think about the Keller quote? Has your idea of growing spiritually been based on being good?
• Why is it so hard for us to live in grace, even after coming to saving faith through grace?

"When you are thrust into a situation that is like mine or similar to mine, you learn a lot of things. You will definitely learn who you are as a person. You will have all of your life choices, good and bad, flash before you and you will either feel sickened by them, or you will be satisfied with what you see. The most important thing that I learned through this is that I need to trust God no matter what happens. I need to stay rooted in Him and try not to stray. If anybody hears about what happened to me, I want them to learn that they need to have a strong relationship in Christ because they never know when they will meet Him. Don't get into a life threatening situation in order to truly start living out your faith." -Hunter Seifert (2002-2019)

Verses Used:

• Galatians 2

Takeaways:

• There will always be religious people who want to add to the gospel and make it legalistic.
• We all get pressured to be religious. People may say, “Your gospel is too easy, there must be some added rules to this.” That’s being legalistic.
• Hypocrisy is one of the main complaints of people who are not Christians. Hypocrites are… Someone who says they have particular moral beliefs but behaves in a way that shows those beliefs are not sincere.
• A basis for hypocrisy may include: Fear of what others think of us rather than resting in what God thinks of us, but when we live in grace, we live free from trying to keep up appearances.
•  If keeping the law could make us righteous, then we really wouldn’t need Jesus
• We use the phrase: “Do to Be” to describe a mindset when we believe we can earn our righteousness. This mindset includes: What I do (works, rule keeping) makes me who I am (my identity, my self worth). I do things, therefore I have value.
• "Do to be" says: Our behavior makes us right with God; Grace says: We are made right with God because of Jesus and our behavior flows from that reality.

Discussion Questions:

• Do you believe God is happy with you? What is your answer based on?
• How might the dynamics of your relationships change with more grace?
• Who in your life needs to receive grace from you right now? Is it hard for you to extend it? Why?

Verses Used:

• Romans 3:23
• Galatians 1:1-10
• Mark 7:6-8
• Colossians 2:20-23
• Mark 7:18-23

Takeaways:

• Grace says, “take off the mask, you don’t have to prove anything here.”
• The greatest commandment - love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.
• Undermining the Messenger - False teachers were trying to discredit Paul’s teaching. There was a battle for truth happening. 
• Distorted Gospel - We don’t get to redefine the gospel of Jesus Christ. It’s God’s gospel, not ours to meddle with.
• We are justified before God not because of anything we do, but because of what Jesus did for us.
• No one can improve the gospel, it’s already good news. We can’t make it better by adding law to it. 
• With legalism the heart is wrong. We start to believe (more right behavior + less wrong behavior = Godliness)
• Legalism says: Your good works will make God pleased with you. Grace says: God is already pleased with you because you trust in the finished work of Jesus.
• Legalism says: you should rate people based on their personal holiness. Grace says: You get to live free of ranking people’s sin against your own.
• Legalism says: You need to be better, why can’t you stop sinning? Grace says: You don’t have to be perfect Jesus was perfect for you.
• Living in grace is free, and the way that God intended for us to live. Unfortunately, many Christians do not know how to live in grace.

Verses Used:

• Luke 3:21
• Luke 5
• Mark 1:35-38
• John 17
• Galatians 4:6
• 1 Thess. 5:17
• Matthew 6:7-8
• Phillipians 4:6-7
• Luke 6:12-13
• Jeremiah 33:3

Takeaways:

• We can learn to pray “up, in, and out”.
•  Up - Prayers of communion with God. Which means to be talking with him and being in His presence. 
• Jesus understood His relationship to the Father and pursued God through prayer because of it. Jesus knew he was a beloved son.
• Knowing God’s character and iIs heart toward us changes how we approach prayer.
• In - prayers of petition. This would be praying for our needs and asking for things.
• God is all knowing, He knows what His kids need but He still wants us to ask Him.
• Out - prayers of intercession or, otherwise known as praying for others.
• Some people aren’t sick or in need of intercession because of health, but they are spiritually needy.
• When we pray for others - we are reminded that we can’t save anyone, only God can.

Discussion Questions:

• What has been the biggest challenge for you in communing with God? (praying regularly)
• Does prayer feel like a “have to” or a “get to”, why?
• How might our attitude toward prayer change when we understand our identity in relation to God?
• What would have to change for you to start listening more in prayer?

Verses Used:

• Matthew 11:28 (invitation)
• Luke 1:16 (invitation)
• John 7:37 (invitation)
• Luke 9:60 (challenge)
• Mark 9:37 (challenge)
• Matthew 16:24 (challenge)
• Matthew 4:19 (both)
• Mark 1:15 (both)
• Matthew 16:15-23
• Ephesians 5:22-24
• Colossians 3:21
• Ephesians 6:4

Takeaways:

• Josh mentioned last week that: We can’t reach people who don’t know Jesus if we don’t know people who don’t know Jesus.
• Invitation refers to an attitude that says, “I’m glad you’re here, I’m committed to you and will welcome you no matter what.”
• Challenge refers to an attitude that says, “I want you to grow, I’m committed to holding you accountable to change for the better.”
• Notice that in Jesus ministry, invitation generally precedes challenge.
• Life transformation begins with invitation, but continues with challenge.
• People are used to experiencing cultures that are either highly invitational or highly challenging, typically they don’t ever experience them together.
• The Kingdom of God expands at the speed of relationships, and the gospel moves along the lines of trust.

Verses Used:

• Luke 10:1-12 NLT

Takeaways:

• We can’t reach people who don’t know Jesus if we don’t know people who don’t know Jesus.
• The Harvest is Big; Jesus tells us that there are more people to be reached than there are workers to bring in the spiritual harvest.
•   Our belief in what Jesus says about the harvest radically changes how we live our lives.
• Just because we don’t see the harvest, doesn’t mean it’s not there.
• Finding people of peace. We find people of peace where we live, work, and play. 
• People of peace are people that enjoy being around you and you enjoy being around them. They will often serve you or meet a need.
• Be good news people. Jesus calls us to live as good news people, not salespeople. 

Discussion Questions:

• Why is it sometimes hard for us to believe Jesus’ statement that the harvest is plentiful? 
• What opportunities or challenges do you see in your own life to developing relationships with people of peace?
•  What needs to change in your heart or attitude to live as a good news person?

Takeaways:

• God gives strength. We can’t do it on our own. When we try to deal with stresses and challenges of life, we end up turning to things to medicate our situation or we distract ourselves so we don’t have to face reality
• God reveals love. Love is more important than anything else. God created humans to need love, to receive it and to give it.
•  Love is also transformational. It changes us and it changes the people around us. We can’t be transformed at the heart level to become more like Jesus without understanding and living in God’s love. 
• God exceeds expectations. The number one thing God is up to in your life is forming you into the likeness of Jesus. God desires his kids to represent Him well.

Discussion Questions:

As it is the first Sunday of the month, we like to remember what Christ has done by sharing in a time of communion. God wants us to eat and remember - enjoy and worship Him - and, at the same time, have our needs met by Him. Here are some questions of reflection:

• What is one area of your life this past year that you felt short in? Something you felt disappointed about?
• 
  

 If you’d like, take some time and eat the bread, thank Jesus that he shows grace to us in our failures. His body was broken for you so you could be accepted by God regardless of your achievements. Rest in the finished work of Jesus on your behalf

• What is one area of your life that you hope to see progress in this new year? Specifically a spiritual goal. 

As you drink the juice, thank Jesus that his blood covers our sins and gives us a new start. Ask Jesus to give you the strength to move forward and to make changes. Rest in the finished work of Jesus even as you take action.

Verses Used:

• Zephaniah 3:17
• Luke 1:46-55
• Luke 5:31-32
• 1 John 4:9-18
• Psalm 145:8
• 1 Corinthians 13:4-7
• John 3:16

Takeaways:

• God designed humans to experience love.
• Love is a rescue. Jesus came to rescue lost people
• Love drives out fear
• God’s desire is for us to love others