Wednesday Night Study Guide (Page 4)

Sermon Title: Let the little children come to me Text: Matthew 19:13-15 (ESV) Click here to listen to or watch the sermon Download tonight’s printable study guide Brief summary (what’s the point of this text/sermon?) In the month of May we’re having a “Train up a Child” campaign—we’re hoping to be able to fill all of our children’s Bible class rotations with teachers through May 2019. In conjunction with this emphasis, we studied the text above. We discussed how children…

Sermon Title: Love People: Do Unto Others Text: Matthew 7:1-12 (ESV) Click here to listen to or watch the sermon Download tonight’s printable study guide Brief summary (what’s the point of this text/sermon?) Jesus’ command to “love others” is simple and generic and something that obviously most people agree with. We ought to love people, whatever that means. But with this—like with all things—Jesus doesn’t leave us with some sort of ambiguous moral platitude that allows us to love people…

Sermon Title: Ambassadors of God’s Kingdom Text: 2 Corinthians 5:17-21 (ESV) Click here to listen to or watch the sermon Download tonight’s printable study guide Brief summary (what’s the point of this text/sermon?) Nic took Paul’s use of “ambassadors” in 2 Corinthians 5 and illustrated how Christians are ambassadors of God’s kingdom in the world today. Just as different cultures have different values and different ways of prioritizing their values, so God’s kingdom has a structured value system. Christians go…

Sermon Title: The Tree of Life Text: Genesis 2:7-9; Revelation 22:1-5 Click here to listen to or watch the sermon Download tonight’s printable study guide Brief summary (what’s the point of this text/sermon?) One of the most amazing things about the Bible is its beautiful unity and cohesiveness . . . It tells one, over-arching story about what God is doing in the world. One remarkable symbol of that is the Tree of Life, which is mentioned first in the…

Sermon Title: Do you love me more than these?” Text: John 21:15-19 Click here to listen to or watch the sermon Download tonight’s printable study guide Brief summary (what’s the point of this text/sermon?) As you know, our 2018 theme is “Love God. Love People. Change the World,” and Sunday we continued this emphasis by studying Jesus’ post-resurrection interaction with Peter. Just a few weeks earlier Peter had infamously denied any connection to Jesus and had almost certainly been dealing…

Sermon Title: Look at the Mess We’ve Made Text: Zephaniah 1:2-18 Click here to listen to or watch the sermon Download tonight’s printable study guide Brief summary (what’s the point of this text/sermon?) The problems and issues of life are many. Most of the time, the major problems we face are self-induced. It can be difficult to accurately identify and analyze the root causes when we are not honest with ourselves. Also, identifying root causes is often difficult when we…

Sermon Title: He was Raised Text: 1 Corinthians 15:1-20 Click here to listen to or watch the sermon Download tonight’s complete study guide Brief summary (what’s the point of this text/sermon?) This past Sunday was Easter, of course, and millions of people around the world commemorated the resurrection of Christ. Of all the events in Jesus’ life, none is more significant or more life-changing than the empty tomb. He died on Friday, but that death would have been meaningless had…

Sermon Title: One Sinner Who Repents Text: Luke 15:1-10 Click here to listen to or watch the sermon Download tonight’s complete study guide Brief summary (what’s the point of this text/sermon?) It’s not very PC anymore to talk about “sin.” We talk about diseases and disorders, but not disobedience. In a world that thinks less of God, it’s no surprise that many think hardly anything about some higher objective moral code to which a sovereign God will hold us accountable.…

Sermon Title: Obey: Because We Love Him Text: John 14:15-31 Click here to listen to or watch the sermon Download tonight’s complete study guide Brief summary (what’s the point of this text/sermon?) In this sermon , e explored another facet of our 2018 theme (Love God. Love People. Change the World). It’s easy enough to say that we ought to love God—we all agree with that—but what does that mean? What does that look like practically? In some circles—probably because…

Sermon Title: “Learning to Be Happy” Text: Psalm 126:2-3 Click here to listen to or watch the sermon Download tonight’s complete study guide Brief summary (what’s the point of this text/sermon?)   Our world is broken, and sometimes we allow things going on around us to cause us to be anxious, sad, and depressed. Young people (and probably Americans of all ages) in our culture spend an incredible amount of time looking at screens (TV, phones, tablets, computers, etc.), and…

Sermon Title: “Learning to trust God: He is ‘for us’” Text: Romans 8:31-39 Click here to listen to or watch the sermon Download tonight’s complete study guide Brief summary (what’s the point of this text/sermon?) In the sermon from a week and a half ago we studied the importance of trusting God: it changes everything about us, from the way we face tragedies to the way we handle successes to the consistency with which we obey. All of us want…

Sermon Title: Trust Changes Everything Text: 2 Kings 18:1-18 Click here to listen to or watch the sermon Download tonight’s complete study guide Brief summary (what’s the point of this text/sermon?) This idea permeates Scripture: the basis of our relationship with God—at least on our part—is learning to trust him completely and unreservedly. Most of us struggle at times with doubt, anxiety, fear, and uncertainty: anxiety over a health problem, struggles with relationships, difficulties in child-rearing, doubts about the future…