On Sunday, May 3, 2020 at Wildwood Community Church, I preached a sermon based on John 13:34-35.  This message was part 2 in the “Growing Up?” series.  Below you will find questions related to the sermon for group discussion or personal reflection, and the audio/video from the sermon to listen to/watch, download or share.

Sermon Questions:

1. Pray
2. Read John 13:34-35
3. What are some of the ways you have seen communication and connection with people get MORE DIFFICULT during this season?  Why have you persevered  to “pay the cost” to communicate in these ways?  What does that tell you about the way we were created?
4. Jesus lets His disciples know that they are to love one another in the same way that Jesus loves them.  Based on that call, look at the following questions below, and evaluate your “love for one another”?

• Do you serve, or expect to be served? 
• Do you point others to the Truth? 
• Do you pray for & pursue unity? 
• Do you die to self for sake of others? 
• Do you “show up”? 
• Do you forgive? 
• Do you involve others in your world?  

5. Jesus says that His followers should be known by all for their love for one another.  How do you think Christians are most known today?
6. The New Testament writers provide many “one another” commands.  See the lists of those “one another’s” below (in the images).  Do any of these particularly challenge you at this time?
7. What stands out to you most from this passage?  Any particular takeaway?

To access these questions in pdf format, click here.

 

To listen to sermon audio offline, click link to download:

Growing Up? #2 5.3.20

 

To listen to sermon audio online, use the media player below:

 

To watch the sermon video, use YouTube video linked below:

 

Why is social distancing so hard?  Well, it is hard for a number of reasons.

1. It is challenging because it makes it impossible for some of us to see our family, if they are in a vulnerable population or live in a care facility or are hospitalized.
2. It is challenging because it makes it harder for some to do their vocations.  How do you educate from a distance?  Scores of teachers around the world are trying to figure that out right now!  How do you best lead worship services through livestreams?  Our team has evaluated and iterated on that process for two months now.  Many of you are wrestling through this in your businesses as well.  It is doable, but it is harder.
3. It is challenging because it keeps you from gathering together with your friends.  Safer at home orders have forced people to communicate primarily through a screen.  We are thankful for that opportunity, but is is also somewhat 2-D.  You can add depth … but it is harder.
4. It is challenging because when the meeting is over, the meeting is over.  Everyone clicks out of their screen.  No lingering in the lobby, no conversations in the parking lot, etc.  You an have a follow up phone call, but you may not have their number … it is just harder.
5. It is challenging because humor is hard in this environment.  You can deliver a GREAT JOKE in a  conversation … your “A” material … and it goes unnoticed because you had the mute button on!  Dang it!

Social distancing is hard for lots of reasons.  But even though it is hard to communicate in this environment, we still do it, don’t we?  We put up with Zoom calls.  We tolerate extra time on the phone.  We may have even written hand written notes and mailed them to friends for the first time in years.  We put masks on and have our temperature scanned so we can go to work.  WHY?  Why are we allowing the cost to communicate to be raised, and yet we are still willing to pay it?

Well, I think there is a biblical answer to this question.  We were made for each other.  It was not good for Adam to be alone in the Garden, and it is not good for you to be alone in this life.  

I recently read about Vietnam prisoners of war who developed elaborate ways to communicate with each other while they were kept in solitary confinement for weeks on end.  Why?  Because they just needed that interaction.

Thankfully, while public health concerns can lead us to PHYSICAL DISTANCE, we will still find ways to be SOCIAL, because that is what we were created to do.

This Sunday at Wildwood Community Church, we will be talking more about how we can grow through this pandemic in our spiritual lives by growing in our love for others … even though the physical distance is high … even when it is hard.  We do it, because we were made for it.

Jesus Himself said, “They will know you are My disciples by the way you love one another.”  This Sunday, we will talk about how we are made to “one another” one another in part two of our “Growing Up?” sermon series.  Hope to see you there on the livestream at wildwoodchurch.org/live at 11AM.

On Sunday, April 26, 2020 at Wildwood Community Church, I preached a sermon based on James 1:2-8.  This message was part 1 in the “Growing Up” series.  Below you will find questions related to this message for group discussion or personal reflection.  You will also find the sermon audio and video to listen to, download, or share.

Sermon Questions:

1. Pray
2. Read James 1:2-8
3. How are you viewing the COVID-19 era:  as a snow day?  blizzard?  winter?  ice age?
4. When this current era is over, what are some of the ways you hope to have grown during this time?
5. What are some of the “various trials” you are going through right now?  In what ways might God be developing maturity in every area of your life through your experiences in this struggle?
6. Do you tend to view trials more as a “loss” or as “tuition”?  A loss provides no value, while tuition is paid to learn something or become something new.  How does viewing trials as  tuition help you have joy in the midst of difficulty?
7. What are the kinds of things you typically pray for in the midst of trouble?  Is wisdom one of the things you are asking for?  Why or why not?
8. How do you imagine God responding to your request for wisdom?  Is He attentive?  Does He hold it against you, thinking you should already know?  What does James 1:5-8 tell you about God’s attitude toward you as you pray?
9. What stands out to you most from this passage?  Any particular takeaway?

To access these questions in pdf format, click here.

 

To listen to the sermon audio offline, click link to download:

Growing Up? #1 4.26.20

 

To listen to the sermon audio online, use media player:

 

To watch the sermon video, use YouTube online:

 

Right now, the sporting world is watching the National Football League Draft.  Without Major League Baseball, the NBA Playoffs, or any college sports, this weekend’s draft is literally the only game in town!

One thing that stands out watching the draft is that so much of the NFL is about “measurables”:  how tall, how heavy, how fast, etc.  As much as any sport out there, in football, a tenth of a second difference in the 40 yard dash, or 2 inch difference in the length of your arms, can make a difference between a hall of famer … and Uncle Rico.

While watching the stories of those drafted, however, we are consistently reminded of how these measurables can change.  The offensive lineman who went from an “out-of-shape” Freshman to a dominant “senior” because of the time spent in the weight room (and abstaining from ordering Pizza Shuttle at 11PM every night.)  The wide receiver who grew 8 inches between his junior and senior year in high school.  Those 12 months made a huge difference!  These stories reminded me that we do not always grow at the same pace in every season of life.  Some eras might be fairly static … and then we hit a growth spurt!

Not only is this the case with our physical bodies, but it also is the case with our spiritual lives.  The spiritual life of every Christian is designed to grow over time.  This is the process of sanctification (the process by which God’s character is increasingly revealed in our lives), and God is absolutely committed to it.  In Paul’s letter to his friends in Philippi, he writes, “And I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6).  That’s right, Jesus is committed to completing the process of our growth in Him!  Now, HOW that process plays out, though, varies from Christian to Christian.  By God’s grace and in His providence, He allows us to participate with Him in our spiritual development.  He wants us to, “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12).  In other words, we are to put in the time in the “weight room” of our spiritual lives – NOT so that we might be drafted onto His team, but so that we might grow into the potential He is building within us.  After all, Philippians 2:13 continues, “for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.”

Why do I say all this?  I say this to remind us that we are designed to grow over time.  We are not destined to be spiritual infants forever, but to GROW UP as followers of Jesus Christ.  When we see a grown man or woman acting like a child, we know something has gone terribly wrong … and when we see an experienced Christian “still drinking only milk” (as Hebrews 5:12-13 so graphically puts it), something has slowed the maturing process in that person.

So, what does it look like for us to grow in our relationship with God?  Well, the Apostle Paul once reflected on his friends in Thessalonica and the spiritual growth he had seen in their lives.  I think his comments are instructive.  He says in 2 Thessalonians 1:3, “We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing.”  The spiritual growth that God will work in us over time is revealed through an increasing faith in God and love for others.  Two things to note there:  (1) Paul was able to NOTICE this growth.  In other words, while the growth happened internally, it was observable to the outside world.  It was a “MEASUREABLE.”  (2)  Faith in God and love for others sounds a lot like the greatest commandment that Jesus gave (Matthew 22:37-40) – “Love the Lord your God and love your neighbor as yourself.”

Now, just as in our physical lives, our spiritual lives do not always grow at one consistent and steady pace.  Sometimes there are seasons of dynamic and rapid growth.  AND, these growth spurts happen at different times in our lives.  Interestingly, when I look at the Bible I see evidence that our spiritual growth spurts often happen in moments when times are tough:  when we are in the “wait room” of illness or job search or (dare I say) … a global pandemic.  James says in James 1:2-8 that we are to “consider it all joy when we face various trials” BECAUSE of what they produce in us:  spiritual growth.

That’s right, there is hope that in the midst of this pandemic you will grow.  Not just grow in:

• anxiety
• fear
• debt
• years until you can retire 
• your waistline 

… but GROW UP in Christ.  Grow in your faith in God and love for others as you are spending time “working out” your salvation in the “wait room” of this trial.

Over the next two Sundays at Wildwood as a part of our Sunday livestream, I will be preaching on how we can grow spiritually in this season.  This Sunday, we will focus on growing our faith in God in this trial.  Then, next week (May 3), we will talk about growing our love for others.  Can’t wait to dive into God’s Word with you all in this short (but important series.)  Make plans to join us at 11AM Sunday at wildwoodchurch.org/live … and invite others to join us as well!