WEEKLY SERMON REFLECTIONS

Each week, take 5 days to dive deeper into the heart of our Sunday sermons! Through key insights and scripture, this format will allow for further personal reflection and spiritual growth. Keeping this at the dinner table, discuss it with family and/or friends.

PRAYER OF THE WEEK:

Lord God, forgive me if I’ve ever thought life should be easy or free of trouble. Forgive me also for thinking I have what it takes to solve my own problems and attain my own peace apart from you. Teach me to lean not on my own understanding during times of trials or tribulations, but to focus my eyes on Jesus who made a way for me to have hope and receive your peace, grace and strength. Even in the complete mess, you are working out a complete redemption. And so I trust you. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

DAY
01

When He approached Jerusalem, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, “If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes.”
"For the days will come upon you when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you, and surround you and hem you in on every side, and they will level you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another..."
"because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.

Luke 19:41–44

REFLECTION:

Jesus weeps over the chaos in the lives of His people because we often spiral into thinking He has abandoned us or worse, that He doesn’t care. We often allow the tangled threads of the mess to become our vision instead of experiencing the peace that God offers us in the midst of it.

RESPONSE:

What parts of your life feel so chaotic that they’ve blinded you to the presence of God? What would it look like to ‘recognize your time of visitation’ right now?

DAY
02

...no weapon formed against you shall prosper.

Isaiah 54:17

REFLECTION:

Jesus didn’t promise that the weapons wouldn’t be formed, but He did say they wouldn’t succeed. Sure the suffering, failures, struggle and sin are a part of our story, but with God He gives us vision, hope and peace through the mess of life.

RESPONSE:

What “weapons” in your life feel like they are succeeding? How can you trust God in the midst of the mess even when you feel weary or confused?

DAY
03

This is what Paul means when he said, "No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,  neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8.38-39

REFLECTION:

Being a Christian doesn’t mean we avoid the struggle–it means nothing can separate us from the love of God and that He is with us through it all. The mess is real, but the love of God is more enduring than anything we can face in this life. He never abandons us. We need to fix our eyes on Jesus and not let ourselves become blinded by the mess.

RESPONSE:

Have you felt so overwhelmed by the mess of life that you felt God had abandoned you? What helps you to remember that He is faithful and will never leave you hanging?

DAY
04

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves; we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but of despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed…

2 Corinthians 4:7-9

REFLECTION:

We will endure a variety of pressures in this life but it won’t destroy us. We are to invite the spirit of God to fill us with His power and strength to shine through our mess. He will empower us to live the life He’s called us to live.

RESPONSE:

What might it mean for God’s treasure to live in the very parts of you that feel broken?

DAY
05

I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.

John 16:33

REFLECTION:

We live in a mess, but the mess can’t stop us if we refuse to let it get in the way of our knowing the love of God and the presence of God, to then receive the peace of God. Don’t miss the moment of visitation.

RESPONSE:

How are you defining peace–by the absence of trouble or by the presence of Jesus? How can you refocus to bring your thoughts into alignment with His word and allow God to turn your mess into a message?