thisistheROCK

God is calling all of us to a ridiculous faith. Not ridiculous in a bad way… but ridiculous in a good way. Many words today have two meanings. They mean what they mean but they also mean the opposite. That is how it works with ridiculous. Over the next three weeks, we are going to be looking at stories from the life of Elisha the prophet. Our desire is to see how we can live lives of ridiculous faith so that we can please God!

Today we are going to look at the story of Naaman from 2 Kings 5. This is an incredible story where God shows us that our plans take a back seat because He will always work according to His plan… not ours! Throughout the story we see that Naaman was trying to force his plan onto God, but God ends up showing Naaman that obedience is key to a ridiculous faith. Naaman had a choice… to walk away in disobedience and remain with his leprosy or submit to God’s plan and see healing take place. Ridiculous faith begins with submitting to God’s plan… not ours!

God is calling all of us to a ridiculous faith. Not ridiculous in a bad way… but ridiculous in a good way. Many words today have two meanings. They mean what they mean but they also mean the opposite. That is how it works with ridiculous. Over the next three weeks, we are going to be looking at stories from the life of Elisha the prophet. Our desire is to see how we can live lives of ridiculous faith so that we can please God!

We're going to look at two principles of what a faith that works has. We saw last week that God is calling us to have a ridiculous faith that pleases Him! So today we’re going to see what that faith involves by looking at 2 Kings 3:15-20. We are going to see that our greatest need becomes a blessing when it drives us to God. That blessing for the kings came in the form of water. God showed those kings that only God can bring the water but we need to dig the ditches. Once the water came, God shows us that our faith needs to believe BIG but be willing to start small!

God is calling all of us to a ridiculous faith. Not ridiculous in a bad way… but ridiculous in a good way. Many words today have two meanings. They mean what they mean but they also mean the opposite. That is how it works with ridiculous. Over the next three weeks, we are going to be looking at stories from the life of Elisha the prophet. Our desire is to see how we can live lives of ridiculous faith so that we can please God!

Tonight we are going to be looking at the beginning of Elisha’s story. We’ll see how God used Elijah the prophet to call Elisha to be one of the greatest prophets ever! We’ll see from the calling of Elisha what great commitment looks like. This story shows us that you don’t have to know all the details to fully obey God. Our culture tells us the opposite, but God calls us to simply follow His calling! We also see that those God uses the most are those who hold on to the least. God calls us to step away from our security and pursue our destiny He’s called us to!

The small conjunction “but” plays a significant role in language. The conjunction “but” is used to connect statements that express opposite ideas. In the Bible, there are some big “buts”. These “buts” are used to make important statements about our faith and relationship with Jesus. In our series, Big Buts In The Bible, we are going to look at some of these big buts and how they impact our faith.

Peter wrote to churches that were experiencing trials because of their faith. In the midst of this letter, Peter gave them clear instructions on how they can be a witness to the world in the midst of their suffering. That’s where our BUT for the night comes in. Peter tells them to worship Jesus as the Lord of their life in the midst of their suffering. What does that look like? Peter says that it starts with their words and it continues with their lifestyle. Their words and their walk is how we can worship Jesus in the midst of trials!

The small conjunction “but” plays a significant role in language. The conjunction “but” is used to connect statements that express opposite ideas. In the Bible, there are some big “buts”. These “buts” are used to make important statements about our faith and relationship with Jesus. In our series, Big Buts In The Bible, we are going to look at some of these big buts and how they impact our faith.

Galatians 2:20 says “My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, BUT Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” This verse is all about what it means to be justified by faith. So we will use this passage to look at the marks of a real faith. We want students to see that real faith is actually not about living but rather about death… death to sin and death to self. Real faith is all about death so that we can live for him.

The small conjunction “but” plays a significant role in language. Conjunctions are used to connect two different clauses together. Specifically, the conjunction “but” is used to connect statements that express opposite ideas. In the Bible, there are some big “buts”. These “buts” are used to make important statements about our faith and relationship with Jesus. In our series, Big Buts In The Bible, we are going to look at some of these big buts and how they impact our faith.

Today we are going to look at 3 big “buts.” These “buts” are found in John 3:16-18. Jesus, while talking to Nicodemus, explains why he came, what he’s doing and what the results will be from his life, death and resurrection. These “buts” explain how salvation comes, God’s purpose for sending Jesus, and the reality that we are faced with in light of Jesus’ ministry. We want students to walk away encouraged by knowing that while they have sin in their life, sin is not the final chapter in their story!

Tonight we had our first ever Boys vs Girls night. We had over 30 games to see who was the more dominat gender... boys or girls? At the end of the night, Rick shared how boys and girls are different but also how they are the same too!

What is a shift? The dictionary defines a shift as a change in emphasis, direction or focus. As followers of Jesus, we all experience a SHIFT in thinking. We used to think one way and now, in light of Jesus, we think in a different way. In our series, SHIFT, we are going to look at two important shifts that every follower of Jesus must experience. The first week we’ll look at the shift He>I and the second week we’ll look at the shift We>Me. These two shifts are essential to understanding how we should live out our faith as followers of Jesus.

This week we'll look at the SHIFT in thinking where we realize that we are not meant to live alone. In fact, in the beginning of creation, God didn’t like that man was alone, so he created community for Adam to be in. Tonight we’re going to see how WE>ME. When we become followers of Jesus, we join a spiritual family. Our spiritual family is important for our growth and for our identity. We want our students to understand that we’re better together.

What is a shift? The dictionary defines a shift as a change in emphasis, direction or focus. As followers of Jesus, we all experience a SHIFT in thinking. We used to think one way and now, in light of Jesus, we think in a different way. In our series, SHIFT, we are going to look at two important shifts that every follower of Jesus must experience. The first week we’ll look at the shift He>I and the second week we’ll look at the shift We>Me. These two shifts are essential to understand how we should live out our faith as followers of Jesus.

This week Rick looks at the SHIFT in thinking where we stop focusing on making ourselves the greatest and start making Jesus the greatest. We learn that as followers of Jesus, we need to live a life where HE>I. The goal of our life needs to be making Jesus great instead of ourselves great.

Love is a funny thing. However, it is something that we are commanded to do by Jesus in the Bible. But how do we love the people around us? What does it look like? How do we do it without being weird? In our series, How To Love Your ______, we are going to look at two groups of people that it can sometimes be hard to love… our family and our friends. We want students to live out the love of Jesus to the people that they spend the most time with, in a way that brings Jesus glory!

Tonight we discuss how we love our friends. Jesus gives us the command, “Love each other in the same way I have loved you” (John 15:12). How did Jesus love us? We are going to look at the different ways that Jesus loved us and see how we can love our friends that same way. Ultimately, we want students to know that the best way to love their friends is to live out their faith in front of their friends every day!