Pub Night Dallas

This week, for the Mavs game, we will be back at Jordan, Ben & Ty’s house for Pub Night.

Message will be at 7:30, game starts at 8:00. We’ll be getting pizza again. 

Tonight being in a different location and starting at a different time (7:30!), Lee has asked me to lead and talk more about what’s been on my heart lately. I’m looking forward to it!

We’ll resume our study on “introducing Luke” next week…

At last night’s Pub Night, we looked at the second half of Luke chapter 1: which includes some narrative text and some poetry, but it collectively centers on Mary (the mother of Jesus) and Zechariah (the father of John the Baptist).

What strikes me most about this story and the way Luke introduces us to Jesus is that these are everyday, ordinary human beings—yet they are noted for amazing faith. They are actually so normal that most of society would have never noticed them, which is a lesson unto itself.

What Luke reveals in this text (which was admittedly initially unimpressive) is that this Jesus story is a story about everyday folk who are aligned with the dream of God for humanity. This alignment shapes everything about their lives: their hopes and dreams for the future, their posture of humility, their yearning for reconciliation and right relationships, and their incalculable joy because of their faith that God is who he says he is and will do what he promises he’ll do: set the world right.

A right world is a world where God’s peace, righteousness and justice are the true north. They define how we live, love, relate, and progress in life.

Mary and Zechariah were ordinary folks with extraordinary faith—they were so immersed in the story, dream, Kingdom, etc. of God that it became the lens through which the experienced life.

When God spoke they heard .
When God moved they grabbed on for dear life.
When God waited they stayed.
When God called they responded.

Not because they had some secret or were special—exactly the opposite. They realized they were nobody and the greatest hope for humanity and themselves was the dream of God: humans participating in God’s character and identity—peeling back the effects of sin and living in light of a world where God reigns.

Are you so in tune with God that his dream is becoming your dream?

Read the songs/prophecies in Luke 1 again and think about ordinary people who shared an ancient dream. What do you learn about their faith and their dream?

Hey friends- Every week I ask each of you to consider the ways Pub Night can push you in your faith. Serving is an area that comes to my mind…

One thing our group is continually doing better with is serving the community. Read the quoted text below and ask yourself where you can apply your time and skills. Then, let me know what you would like to see Pub Night offer as the next service project.

“If you’d like a more joyful life, start serving in the ways God has gifted you to serve, and cut out all the duty and obligation and pride crap. If you are teaching Sunday school out of a sense of obligation, stop. Literally stop as soon as you can. Instead, find something that gets you fired up. Who knows what that something is—maybe it’s plumbing or carpentry work, maybe it’s counseling executives, maybe it’s walking people’s dogs or planting a community garden. Who knows, but serve in a way God has wired you to serve.”

http://www.relevantmagazine.com/god/mission/features/25634-are-you-motivated-by-good-or-guilt

This week’s Lukan text is 1:39-80. Read it, pray it, think through it.

What is Luke introducing about Jesus?

Click “submit” and write a paragraph of your thoughts..

Take some time this week and read the rest of Luke 1 (we’ve already talked about the first 25 verses).

Answer this question:

How is Luke introducing us to Jesus? 

In other words, what is Luke setting us up to understand about Jesus that will help us want to follow him?

Blog your response by hitting “submit” on the lefthand side of the blog.

This week, read Luke 1:5-25 several times. Ask yourself what Luke is trying to reveal to his audience about Jesus.

When something strikes you, write about it!

Click “Submit” on the left side of the blog post and write about what stands out to you from this particular passage. Remember to add your name to your thoughts!

The first 4 chapters of Luke remind us that God does the impossible and the improbable on a regular basis. Whether Luke is writing about women past their birthing years giving birth, the Virgin Mary giving birth, or a human going 40 days without food we see constant struggles between human and God. As humans we constantly doubt the things that we claim to know about God, His directives, and even the very things that we have perceived faith about. We are in a constant state of temptation and must become more reliant upon prayer.

-Ben Wilson

Happy Easter everyone!!! Just wanted to say I love you all and hope your Easter has been an amazing time to reflect on our risen Lord and Saviour and victorious King! It has been an amazing week for me leading up to Easter of just understanding more of the character of God and coming to a real realization of how much God really loves me! I encourage all of you to really go and discover more of God’s character! And my prayer is that as you do that you will come to your own realization of how Great our GOd is and how much he loves you!

He is Risen!

Much love from Ireland,

Caroline 

http://www.relevantmagazine.com/life/whole-life/features/22864-what-to-know-when-youre-25ish