Message Title: The Writing on the Wall

Series: Rebel with a Cause

Key verses:  Daniel 5

Sermon Notes:

Letting God speak to us in Daniel 5.

1. Our days are numbered. (Psalm 90:12)
2. How we live our days matter to God. (Is 65-1-3)
3. How we live our days are weighed by God — we are found lacking. (Romans 3:23, 6:23)
4. Our kingdom is temporary. (Mt 6:19-21)

Follow up questions from Sunday:

Icebreaker:  What was the most valuable thing ever stolen from you?  When did it happen and what did it teach you about life?

1. Go around the room and read Daniel ch 5.
2. When you read Daniel 5:1-3. Why do you think Belshazzar had the holy cups brought to his party?  How do you see modern culture mocking God today?  Why do you think they do this?
3. When you read Daniel 5:5-6. When can you think of other times in the Bible when God responds to people defying Him?  What does this tell you about the person of God?  Have you ever seen God humble someone in your spiritual journey?  Please share.
4. Read Daniel 5:25-30 again, Psalm 90:12. Mene  means number….”our days are numbered”.  Knowing that our life is only for a time and we will all stand before God, how do you think this should affect how we live our days?  When did you first learn to number your days?
5. Read Romans 3:23, 6:23. Tekel means “weighed”.  Knowing that our lives are weighed on the scales of heaven before a Holy God, how does this truth influence your love for Jesus and His sacrifice for you?
6. Read Mt 6:19-21. Parsin  means “divided”.  Knowing that all our possessions are for a season–and will one day be divided to someone else if they don’t get stolen or rusted away before then, –what should this teach us about the importance of “earthly wealth vs. heavenly wealth”?  How does this truth affect your life today?
7. Pray for each other the rebels prayer as we all seek to meet know and follow Jesus.

Father give me the wisdom to know the right thing to do and the courage to do it

Message Title: Rebels and a Fiery Furnace

Series: Rebel with a Cause

Key verses: Dan 3:16-18, 24-25, 28.

Sermon Notes:

Notes:

1. When a Rebel stands for God in the little things, they are better prepared to stand for God in the big things.
2. You make choices and your choices make you.
3. Our God is big enough to rescue us from hard circumstances, but if He chooses not to He is big enough to carry us through it!
4. Sometimes God won’t save you from the flames, but he will always be with you in the fire!
5. God is revealed to others when we walk by faith.

The Prayer of a Rebel for God.

6. Father give me the wisdom to know the right thing to do and the courage to do it.

Follow up questions from Sunday:

Icebreaker: In high school, what two friends did you hang out with the most?

1.  Go around the room and read Daniel ch 3.
2.  As you read this chapter, what do you admire most about the three men in the story? Their courage, witness, faith in God for a miracle, trust in God no matter what? Please share.
3.  As you read this chapter, what is your impression of Nebuchadnezzar? How would you define his personality and character traits?   In your life travels, who have you personally met that most reminded you of King Nebuchadnezzar?  Is there any Nebuchadnezzar in you?  Please share.
4.  How do you think God views King Nebuchadnezzar?  Please share then read Is 40:21-26
5.  What are some of your most “fiery” tests of faith that you remember experiencing and how did God use these in your life and in the lives of others around you?
6.  In what areas of your life do you feel the greatest pressure to compromise your convictions? Work, home, school, friends, finances, other?  please share.
7.  Are there any areas of your life that you are sensing God may be calling you to stand for Him as a rebel?  Please share?  How can this group stand with you and pray for you?

Message Title: Rebel with a Cause

Series: Rebel with a Cause

Key verses:

2 Chronicles 36:15-16, Daniel 1:8-9, Jn 17:13-19

Sermon Notes:

Who was Daniel and his friends?

1. They were teenagers.
2. They were most likely from a Godly home.
3. They came from royalty and privilege.
4. They came from the horrors of war.
5. They were under pressure to leave their God.
6. They were rebels for God in a foreign land.

What does Jesus mean by the world?

7. It is a fallen system of thought that call us to live our life and seek out or needs independent of God. (Gen 3:1-7)

How did Daniel live for God in a foreign land?

8. He wasn’t a wimp. (Dan 1:8)
9. H wasn’t a jerk. (Dan 1:9)
10. He loved first and led second–but he always did both.

Our church prayer for this series:

11. Father give me the wisdom to know the right thing to do and the courage to do it.

Follow up questions from Sunday:

Icebreaker: Who is your favorite rebel character in the movies and why?

1. Read 2 Chron. 36:15-16; Matthew 21: 12-14 What do these verses reveal about God to you? Do you see God as a patient God why or why not?  How have you experienced God being patient with you?
2. Read Daniel 1:9: How have you seen God give you favor in the eyes of others in your life journey?  Why do you think He does this?   In what circumstance, would you like to pray this verse for your life today?
3. We read in Dan. 1 that to be an effective rebel for God in the world we need to love and to lead. Which one of these do you struggle with the most?
4. Read John 17: 13-19; What does Jesus pray for –for us–as we live in this world and why? In what ways, can we live out being in the world and not of it?  When was the last time you felt like an alien in this world? Please share.  How can you reflect truth in this situation, without being a “wimp or jerk”.
5. Read 2 Cor. 6:16-18. How does thinking of ourselves as children of God help us live morally distinct lives in our culture? (Hint: In Jesus’ time, familes had shared values, and were a shelter against the influences of the world at large. Our families today don’t always work the same way.) In what way is “idols” a good way of thinking about the things that the world uses to influence us?
6. Read Heb. 11:13-16. The writer says that people who live by faith identify themselves as foreigners and strangers in this world. What things distract you from focusing on heaven? Why do we find ourselves so easily influenced?
7. In your faith journey as a follower of Jesus, can you recall a time when God gave you the wisdom to do the right thing and the courage to do it?  Please share.  Pray for each other that God will continue to answer this prayer in your life as you follow Him.

Message Title: Why Are There So Many Denominations?

Series: Questions

Key verses: Jn. 17:20-23, 1 Peter 3:18, 2 Cor. 5:17-21, Eph. 2:8-9.

Sermon Notes:

The Bible teaches that we are saved by: 

1. Jesus’ work on the cross plus nothing!
2. If you add something to what Jesus did on the cross, then you are subtracting from what He accomplished on the cross.

Principles of the Reformation:

3. Sola Scriptura: Scripture alone .(2 Tim. 3:14-17)
4. Sola Fide: Faith alone. (Eph. 2:9)
5. Sola Gratia: Grace alone. (Romans 3:23, 6:23, Eph. 2:8)
6. Solus Christus: Christ alone. (Acts 4:12,1 Tim. 2:5-6)
7. Soli Deo Gloria: Glory to God alone. (1 Cor. 10:31)

8. The Christian Church isn’t a building we walk into, but a movement we become a part of.

Follow up questions from Sunday:

Icebreaker: Who gave you your first Bible?  Do you know where it is today?

1. Read Romans 1:16-17. Martin Luther said that this verse changed the course of his life as he read it one night in his monastery.  “It is not a righteousness that is by works or by penance or by indulgences or by absolutions or by prayers to the saints, but a righteousness that comes only by faith. By faith!” That was the truth that set him free.  How do you think can we practically apply this verse in our spiritual lives today?
2. Read Jude 1:3. In 1521AD, Martin Luther was willing to die for the faith. Who would you say is the most courageous Christian that you  have met in your spiritual journey?  When was the last time you stood up for the faith?  How did it make you feel?
3. God used the new technology of the printing press to bless the Reformation, how do you think God is using technology to bless the Church today? How is he using it to bless you today?
4. Do you think having different denominations is a good thing or a bad thing? Why?
5. Read 1Peter 5:1-5. What does Peter say a leader should be like in God’s Church? During Martin Luther’s time, there was religious corruption among the leaders of the church. Have you ever encountered religious corruption in your journey with Jesus? If so, how did it affect you and how did you overcome it?
6. Read John 21:15-17.  Pray for the leaders of our church that they will continue to love Jesus, follow Jesus, and continue to lead our church as He directs us.

Message Title: God Never Changes!

Series: Questions

Key verses:
Psa. 139:13-16; 103: 13-14; Mal. 3:6-7; James 1:17; Heb. 13:8; Psa. 86:15

Sermon Notes:

Things we need to know about God:

1. The One who made us knows us. (Ps 139:13-16)
2. The One who knows us loves us. (Ps 103:13-14)
3. The One who loves us never changes. (Mal. 3:6-7; Jam. 2:27; Heb. 13:8)

Questions from the church:

1. Why does the God of the Old Testament (jealous, wrathful) seem so different from the God of the New Testament (loving, forgiving)?
2. Traditions emphasized in Messianic Jewish faith seem to uphold the Old Testament traditions in ways we seem to discard, such as the historical day of the Sabbath, etc. [Why is that?]
   3:23-28
3. Why did God sanction genocide in the Old Testament? Why did he allow the soldiers to kill/enslave the conquered? 32:29; Jer. 18:7-8

Compare Deut. 20:16-18;Josh. 10:40-42 to Josh. 23:12-13, Judg. 1:19-21, 27-31

4. The God who knows us, loves us, and never changes is waiting for us. (Ps 86:15)

Follow up questions from Sunday:

Icebreaker: Who is the person you’ve seen change the most in the time you’ve known them?

1. Who do you think knows you the best of anyone in the world? How would you feel if someone knew absolutely everything about you?
2. Read Ps 139:1-6. How does King David feel about God’s total knowledge of him?  Why do you think that is?
3. Read Ps 139:13-16. How do you think these verses speak to your value in Gods eyes? In light of how He made you, what do you think he wants most from you?
4. Read Ps 103:13-14. If a good parent keeps in mind the limitations of their children when they are growing up; how do these verses help you understand and picture God’s loving patience with you? Can you think of a recent time when God was patient with you? Please share
5. Read Mal 3:6-7, Heb 13:8, James 1:17. What do these verses teach us about God? If God never changes in His nature, character, mind, thoughts, or will, then what does this mean to us?  How is this a good thing?
6. Read Ex 3:13-14, Jn 8:53-59. God said that He was to be called “I Am” to Moses and Jesus later called himself “I AM” for which they wanted to kill Him for making Himself out to be God.

What do these verses say to us about the topic of “the God of the O.T and the N.T being the same”?  Read Jn 14:8-11.  Behold the mystery of the Trinity!

7.  What are important things you have learned about God from stories in the Old Testament that have proven important to you? Why is it helpful to have God’s dealings with people like David, Abraham, and Joseph for us to read about? What do we learn about God when we see him work with flawed people?