Prayer

Compassion, Confrontation, and Power

In Luke 5:12–26, we see an intentional outline of Jesus’s compassion, confrontation, and power shown in the healing of two people. Jesus uses His divine power to address humanity's deepest problem; sin and the need for forgiveness; rather than just fixing surface-level, presenting problems.

Beyond Our Limits

As we considered Luke's account of Jesus calling His first disciples, we see a contrast between the safety of the shore with the vulnerability of the deep water. Jesus purposefully confronts Peter's self-sufficiency to show him to take a step of faith. Believers are called to surrender self-sufficiency and security, and fully commit to following Christ who gives abundant life now and for eternity.

Authority of Jesus and His Mission

This Sunday we dove into Luke 4:31-44, and recognized Jesus' absolute authority over evil as demonstrated through his miraculous healings. These miracles serve as signs of Christ's power over the effects of sin and death, while cautioning that the ultimate purpose of Jesus's mission was to offer access to the Father through the proclamation of the Gospel rather than just temporary physical healing. How are we called to participate in the mission of Jesus?

Prayer

We considered the concept of becoming a "house of prayer" as defined in Mark 11, and emphasized that believers carry both the authority of Jesus and the intimacy with God. In what ways are we using prayer as a tool to see God's kingdom break out into our city?

Ministry in the Church Body

As we looked at Ephesians 4, we focused on the Ministry & Mission environment of our Discipleship Pathway, and zoomed in on the Ministry side. We considered how believers can participate with the Holy Spirit to build up the church. Just as Jesus received authority from God to give the ultimate gift of His "body" (the church) to the world, individual believers have also received unique gifts meant to be given back to strengthen that body.