Verses Used:

• Matthew 11:28-30
• Mark 10:45
• Luke 19:10
• Luke 7:34
• Luke 5:30-32
• Genesis 12:3
• 2 Corinthians 9:11
• Exodus 20:8-11
• Mark 2:23-28
• Matthew 11:28-30 (NTFE)

Takeaways:

• Recap of the Rhythms of last week: Story-formed, Listen, Celebrate. The other three include Eat, Bless, and ReCreate.

Eat

• What if eating could be an active way to engage in discipleship? 
• Meals are more than food. They’re social occasions. They represent friendship, community, and welcome.
• “Son of Man came to…”
• “...to serve”
• “...to seek and to save the lost.”
• “...has come eating and drinking.”
• Living in Rhythm: Regularly eat meals with others as a way of inviting them into the family of God.
• Eating meals with others not only shows care and inclusiveness, but lets them experience love in community.
• The Pharisees and scribes were focused on personal holiness above all else.

Bless

• We are blessed to be a blessing to others. When we bless others, it brings glory to God.
• Word Blessings: Speaking words of life to others. Words of appreciation, encouragement, or affirmation.
• Action Blessings: Doing something for another person for their benefit.
• Gift Blessings: Giving something material or monetary to others for their benefit.

ReCreate

• Sabbath has more to do with placing our trust back in God, reminding ourselves that he is ultimate - we are not.
• Our predisposition is to earn our worth by doing. We work hard for status, love, acceptance, and value. By resting, we can acknowledge our worth by simply being.

Discussion Questions:    

• Can you list some of the ways God has blessed you in your life?
• Why do you think eating with people is such a good way to build relationships?
• Why is it easy to find our worth in doing, and harder to find it in simply being?
• What do you think about Jesus’ words… “The Sabbath was made to meet the needs of people, and not people to meet the requirements of the Sabbath.”

Josh also left us with a challenge to put into practice:

• Eat - Eat 3 intentional meals this week. 1 with a Not-Yet Believer
• Bless - Bless 3 people this week. Whether it be by words, actions, or gifts.
• ReCreate - Take some time to recharge with Jesus.

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Verses Used:

• Matthew 11:28-30
• Romans 5:5
• John 10:27
• Luke 15:21-24

Takeaways:

• Jesus invites us into a new way of living, a new way of being. When we are weary and tired, he offers rest.
• What does Rhythm over Hustle mean? In short, it means living life in a way that is sustainable, following Jesus instead of following the patterns of culture.

Story Formed

• Story is the fabric of relationships, learning, and community.
• The rhythm of story-formed invites us to live in light of a different dominant story, God’s story.
• There are many sub stories in the bible, but we can think of it in four movements: Creation, fall, redemption, and Restoration.
• When we live in the story rhythm, the gospel is good news for us and for others.

Listen

• Listen is a rhythm you are already living in. It’s not a matter of if you are listening, it’s who or what are you listening to?
• We listen to God by listening backward (reading scripture) and forward (paying attention to the Holy Spirit)
• We are listening all the time, what we need most is to listen to Jesus.

Celebrate

• The story of the prodigal son gives us a picture of God’s heart. Grace, forgiveness, and a party to celebrate his lost son coming home.

Discussion Questions:    

• There are many competing voices in our lives - is it easier to listen to them or Jesus? Why?
• Why do you think some people struggle to understand celebrate as something God enjoys?

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Verses Used:

• Ephesians 4:29-32
• Matthew 7:17
• 1 Thessalonians 5:11
• Romans 15:5
• Proverbs 18:21
• Acts 4:36

Takeaways:

• Encouragement over criticism is the difference of being on each other’s team instead of being on each other’s back.

The Biblical Call to Encourage

• Paul addresses his friends' language very clearly, “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths. (NLT) Or in the NASB translation, “Let no unwholesome word…”
• Cleaned up language does not guarantee God honoring language.
• Our hearts are exposed by the way we talk to others.

Critical Spirit

• Criticism in love helps, criticism without heart just hurts.
• The root of a critical spirit is sinful and can come from a heart that is hurting, angry, or fearful.

Culture of Encouragement

• Words have power. They are not just words, they can bring life and death to a person.
• We get to be a people of encouragement; building up, not tearing down. Especially in the church, we get to foster a culture of encouragement.

Discussion Questions:    

• Why do you think speaking words of encouragement is so important for the church?
• What does unhealthy criticism do to a person over time? How does it change them?
• Why do you think people’s words have so much power to help or hurt?
• What would you need to change in your life to be considered an encourager like Barnabas?

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Verses Used:

• Ephesians 4:11-16
• Ephesians 4:1-4
• Proverbs 4:20-23

Takeaways:

• Jesus’ way of discipleship was far more organic, and connected to relationships than most of what we are trying to do in the church today.
• It is God’s desire for us to grow and to mature in our faith - to become more like Jesus.
• Discipleship is the goal. Heart-level transformation is the goal.

Spiritual Maturity

• Yada - In the biblical context “yada” often implies a deep, personal, and relational                            knowledge, such as the intimate relationship between God and His people or between individuals. 

Gospel Fluency and Biblical Literacy

• The goal of your discipleship is not just to read lots of scripture and know lots of facts. The goal of your discipleship is for your heart to reflect the likeness of Jesus.
• I can do biblical literacy all by myself. I need relationships to practice gospel fluency.

Tend the Heart

• Behind our sin is always an issue of unbelief. We believe a lie about God or about ourselves and it causes us to sin. Then we act out of that unbelief.

Discussion Questions:    

• When practicing gospel fluency, Josh asked us, “Who is God? What has he done? Who am I? How do I get to live?”
• Why is gospel fluency sometimes difficult to put into practice?
• Do you think the process of discipleship takes longer than what most people expect? Why?

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Verses Used:

• John 8:1-11
• Leviticus 20:10
• Ephesians 2:8-9
• Galatians 2:16

Takeaways:

• Grace is God’s unmerited favor. Grace means that we are in good with God even though we don’t deserve it.
• Guilt can be a positive thing for us, a gift from God, but, it can also be a very harmful thing that does damage to our hearts.
• Healthy guilt lets us know when we have done something wrong, something that caused harm to others or to ourselves. 
• Healthy guilt leads us to repentance and forgiveness.
• Unhealthy guilt leaves us feeling trapped in condemnation.

The Trap of Guilt

• Your relationship with guilt will dramatically affect how you live and treat others.
• Self Punishment: Some people dwell on past mistakes and refuse to forgive themselves, believing they must suffer for what they’ve done.
• Keeping Score: We sometimes like to view others through a lens of guilt when God has already forgiven them.
• Manipulation: We guilt people into doing what we want them to do.
• God is not a manipulator. God motivates through grace - not guilt.

The Grace of Jesus

• Jesus removes the woman in our reading from public shame. Grace cancels out guilt, and grace leads to transformation, not permission to sin.
• Grace is what saves us and grace is what sustains us.
• Living in Grace
• If we cannot receive grace from God and others, we will not extend it to others.
• If we live with a self-righteous heart or attitude, we will struggle very much to show grace to other people.
• Grace becomes not just a formal doctrine but a felt reality. No one is too low, too far gone, too needy - too anything - to worry about not fitting in.

Discussion Questions:    

• Do you think unhealthy guilt is a good motivator? Why or why not?
• Which is harder for you, to receive grace or extend it to other people? Why?
• What was the desired outcome of Joe confessing to his youth group? What was the actual outcome?
• When you hear that value, the phrase Grace over Guilt, what is your response?

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Verses Used:

• Philippians 2:12-18
• John 1:12
• Galatians 3:26, 4:6-7
• 1 Peter 2:9-10
• 2 Corinthians 5:17-18
• Romans 12:1-2
• Ephesians 4:22-24
• Galatians 5:22-23
• Mark 12:30-31
• Matthew 28:19-20
• Ephesians 2:8-10
• Matthew 5:16

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Verses Used:

• Proverbs 15:1
• Proverbs 11:13
• Joshua 21:43-45
• Luke 15:12-32
• Matthew 18:21-22
• Ephesians 4:32
• 1 Corinthians 13:4-7,13

Takeaways:

Direct Communication

• Communication is essential to having a healthy relationship. Without clear communication we are left to assume and rarely assume correctly.
• Communication is absolutely necessary, but equally important in communication is the way we say it.
• How you say something is equally important to what you say.

Trust

• Trust means that we can rely on someone because we feel safe and have confidence that they will not hurt or betray us.
• Trust is another way of saying we have faith. We trust God, or have faith in God because he is trustworthy. He is faithful.
• If we want to have better relationships with other people, we have to learn how to build trust.

Forgiveness

• We forgive because we have been forgiven. It’s as simple as that.
• Josh points out that forgiveness is not the same as trust. Trust is earned in drops and lost in buckets.

Love

• There are different types of love outlined in the bible:
• Eros- Romantic Love
• Storge- Familial Love
• Philia- Friendship Love
• Agape- Sacrificial Love

Discussion Questions:    

• Why does communication so quickly break down in relationships?
• Why do you think so many people are not trustworthy? Who is one person in your life you can trust?
• In the story of the Prodigal son, why does the father not punish his son when he comes home? How is this story a picture of the gospel?
• Does it make it easier to forgive others when we realize how much we have been forgiven by God? If so, why?

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Verses Used:

• Acts 28:13-30
• Ecclesiastes 3:11
• Luke 10:16
• 2 Timothy 4:7-8

Takeaways:

God has a Plan

• God’s plan was to rescue lost people in Rome, and God’s plan is to rescue lost people, using you.
• The plan God has for all of his followers is to be a representation of the kingdom through our words and actions.

Engaging with Not Yet Believers

• Paul used the opportunity that God presented him to testify of the kingdom.
• You can build relationships with not-yet-believers without compromising your convictions, but you can’t live on mission from a distance.

Finishing Well

• The book of Acts concludes with Chapter 28 but the story continues with us today.
• The gospel is better news than we even know.
• In a world full of people trying to find the answers to life, we have them. They are found in the person and work of Jesus Christ. The good news of the gospel.

Discussion Questions:    

• How is your day-to-day life different when you understand God’s bigger purpose?
• Why do you think Christians sometimes choose isolation over pursuing relationships with not-yet-believers?
• How did you feel/respond when I read that quote from The Cure?
• How does our grasp of the gospel impact how we live each day? Give some examples.

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Verses Used:

• Acts 27:13-26
• Mark 4:35-41
• Romans 8:28

Takeaways:

Storms

• Josh talked about how Paul knew there was a greater purpose beyond this storm he was presently in.
• Paul had faith that God would save them.
• In the midst of a storm where all hope is lost, God calms his people. 
• He is with us through the storms

Shipwrecks

• Jesus is the business of rescuing and redeeming people, relationships and futures.
• Paul and the whole crew were spared because God had a bigger story for them.
• The same is true for you. God has bigger purposes than your current crisis.

Snakebites

• Satan would love nothing more than for us to get distracted and discouraged so we get off-mission.
• Jesus invites us into a better story, a bigger story.
• To live in the midst of your story today takes faith, patience, and perseverance
• God is able to rescue and redeem your situation

Discussion Questions:    

• What are some storms in life that we face? How do we feel while in them?
• Why do you think God allowed the ship in our story to sink? Why does he sometimes allow our “ships” to sink?
• Why is it easy to drift from God’s purpose (mission) for our lives into self preservation mode?
• How do we push back on the spiritual attacks we face as followers of Jesus?

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Verses Used:

• Acts 18:1-17
• 1 Corinthians 2:1-4
• Ephesians 5:16-17
• 1 Thessalonians 2:9

Takeaways:

Be Faithful

Be Here

• Embrace your role.
• Embrace your relationships
• Embrace your reason

Be Loud

• God often positions us where our skills, experiences, and story can make an impact.
• Are you willing to see your location and connections as a part of his planned mission?
• Can you trust that God is at work, even when things seem uncertain or beyond your control? Will you live sent?

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