Week ending February 27, 2005
Know the story…Be the people…Expand the Kingdom
If you would like to contribute to the eNews or converse with the editor (Laura1), send an email to tfbyam1@hotmail.com
NOTE: Wanna comment? Link is at the bottom
Updated: February 23
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IN THE eNEWS THIS WEEK
THE STORY OF GOD—Worthy Living
TELLING THE STORY OF GOD: the media piece
BEING THE STORY OF GOD: the life piece
BIBLE DISCUSSION—Messy Spirituality
SERMON NOTES—A Stable God In An Unstable Life
REGULAR HAPPENINGS
UPCOMING EVENTS
NOTE: the Bible Discussion section is updated on Wednesday.
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THE STORY OF GOD—Worthy Living
Sunday, February 20
Augustine of Hippo (4th century church father) said, “Love God and do as you please.”
How is this possible?
Philippians 1:27-30 laura1’s tfbcollege paraphraseYou TFB Collegians who follow Christ—you are citizens of God’s kingdom. Act like it. Live a life worthy of the Story of God. Live a worthy life, whether people are watching or not. It’s like this: live the sort of life your teachers and pastors would be happy to hear about. Here’s what I’d like to hear: I’d like to hear people from your everyday work-school-play life that you are amazingly tight friends who help each other become better God-followers, even though the culture makes that really hard. I’d like to hear that you help each other stand on holy ground when people make rude comments or enticing propositions. ‘Cause here’s the deal: Don’t be shocked if people and culture are trying to trip up your God-worthy life; that’s a grace gift. Don’t believe it? Believe it! When you help each other stand your ground, it proves to those rude enticers that they’re the ones going down and that you’re the safe ones. It’s all God. Being able to follow God? That’s from God. Being messed with because you’re a God-follower? Oddly, that’s from God, too. You all know culture messes with me and tries to trip me up, just like it tries to trip you up. We’re in this together. We can only live this worthy life together.
Read the ESV version
BASIC IDEA:
1. Live worthy whether you’re watched or unwatched, 27a
2. Worthy living looks like this, 27b-30
- Hold your ground as one, 27b
- Go all-out as one, 27c
- Don’t be shocked by opposition, 28-30
THE BOTTOM LINE:
Here’s the kind of God-followers tfbcollege needs to be:
The type of God-followers that people from your everyday work-school-play life talk about saying that you…
…are amazingly tight friends who help each other become better God-followers, even though the culture makes that really hard.
…help each other stand on holy ground when people make rude comments or enticing propositions.
We’ve been preparing the story to tell, but we are not merely storytellers; we are part of the story. We turn to this issue today. How are we, tfbcollege, going to live a worthy life in Torrance? Sunday, we brainstormed thru four questions to begin answering this question. Look below under “BEING THE STORY OF GOD: the life piece” for the results of the brainstorm. Add your ideas to the comments.
THE BIG PICTURE:
The story of God runs from the creation of everything to the consummation of everything in the Kingdom and includes everything God is doing in the mean time. God-followers today are a vignette in that continuing story, joining the millennia of God-followers who live out God’s story. The God-followers here in Torrance, at TFB, and in the TFB college group are part of the vignette that includes believers across the globe. God has commanded us to be his storytellers through our lives, through words, through media, through art, and through any means possible, spreading the Story of God to all who will listen.
THE KEY QUESTIONS:
What is the story of God?
What is our part in the story?
Why should we tell the story?
How can we live out the story in the TFB college group, in TFB, and in Torrance?
How can we tell the story so others will understand?
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TELLING THE STORY OF GOD: the media piece
Intent: to create a media piece that communicates to the average South Bay twenty-something the facts, emotions, and participations in the continuing story of God.
Here’s the brainstorm list from Sunday, February 13
Lego stop action
musical
stick figure cartoons
claymation
pantomime
children’s picture pop-up book
puppet show
movie
diorama
beat poetry
haiku
limerick
silent movie
After brainstorming, we settled on a silent movie as the primary media piece, supplemented and interspersed with other forms. Post any ideas, etc. in the comments.
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BEING THE STORY OF GOD: the life piece
Intent: to implement a student-run, on-going goodness ministry in the South Bay.
[NOTE: any idea, even a bizarre one, is encouraged in brainstorming. This allows for creativity and thinking outside the box.]
What do you see as the most important issues facing American culture?
- money
- media portrayal of the good life
- status
- right to life/abortion rates
- relative morality
- controversy over support for and opposition to war
- the culture that led to the treatment of war prisoners
Of these issues, which is the most deeply damaging?
- media portrayal of the good life
- right to life/abortion rates
- relative morality
How are these issues affecting people in Torrance?
- entitlement mentality
- s e x culture
- entertainment as highest value
We boiled these three things down to MORAL WEAKNESS
What are we going to do about it? (brainstorm possibilities)
- make it hard for people to get things
- take away everything
- gentle nagging
- picket abortion clinics
- flood the earth
- billboard: “you are not special”
- infiltrate the media
- tear down the sign at the local JC that says, “ education is a right not a privilege”
- billboard: “don’t jaywalk on Crenshaw”
After looking at the list critically:
- an event using public transportation and not money
- incentives and job bank for 16-year olds to get jobs
- creating public service announcements
- ice cream truck with a message
- reading stories at the local library/book store
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BIBLE DISCUSSION—Messy Spirituality
TUESDAYS
7:15-9:00 pm— TFB College Room
Discussion is potluck style—everybody brings something to share,
so read ahead, pray a bunch, listen, and create.
February 22, 2005
MESSY SPIRITUALITY, pgs 9-15
If we’re honest with ourselves, we’ll all admit we’re messed up. Even in the best among us, the inner reaches of the heart contains things we dare not share—a messiness hidden under the mask of spiritual flawlessness. But, what if, as Yaconelli suggests, what if “that messiness is the workshop of authentic spirituality, the greenhouse of faith, the place where the real Jesus meets the real us” (p.15)?
God’s not shocked by our realness. Note the following stories:
Noah drunk and naked Genesis 9:20-28
Abraham lying about Sarah Genesis 20:1-3
David committing adultery with Bathsheba, the murdering her husband 2 Samuel 11:1-17
Peter denying Jesus Matthew 26:69-75
James and John calling down fire on Samaria Luke 9:51-56
We are not alone in our messy spirituality!
HESED: Worship Readings in the Psalms
Psalm 5:4-7 God’s hesed is abundant
v. 7 ESV But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love (hesed), will enter your house.
I will bow down toward your holy temple in the fear of you.
Psalm 6:1-5 God delivers for the sake of his hesed
v. 4 ESV Turn, O LORD, deliver my life; save me for the sake of your steadfast love (hesed).
Psalm 13:1-6 God’s hesed can be trusted, and when it is trusted, the result is joyful worship.
vv. 5-6 ESV But I have trusted in your steadfast love (hesed); my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
I will sing to the LORD, because he has dealt bountifully with me.
Prayer from Tuesday, February 22
WHAT’S NEXT?
Mike Yaconelli’s Messy Spirituality-we’re on pg 15
Psalms ‘hesed’ passages—worship readings and prayer response
Story of God: telling it and being it
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SERMON NOTES—A Stable God In An Unstable Life
What God Is Really Like, part 4
James 1:17
Pastor Charlie Rice
February 20, 2005
Review:
God’s Omniscience: ALL KNOWING
God’s omnipresence: EVERY WHERE PRESENT
God’s Sovereignty: TOTAL CONTROL
God’s IMMUTABILITY: Never Changes
"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows" James 1:17(NIV).
"I the Lord do not change!" Malachi 3:6 (NIV)
3 THINGS ABOUT GOD THAT NEVER CHANGE
1. GOD’S LOVE FOR YOU NEVER CHANGES. Jeremiah 31:3; Psalm 119:159; Romans 8:38
2. GOD’S WORD NEVER CHANGES. Isaiah 40:8; Matthew 24:35; Psalm 119:152; Matthew 7:24-25
3. GOD’S PURPOSE FOR YOUR LIFE NEVER CHANGES. Isaiah 14:24; Psalm 33:11; John 10:10; Romans 10:9; John 1:12-13
"Those who trust in the Lord are as steady as Mount Zion,
unmoved by any circumstance."
Psalm 125:1 (LBP)
Next Sunday’s Sermon Title: “God’s Power in Your Life
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REGULAR HAPPENINGS
SUNDAYS
WORSHIP GATHERING @ 9:15 am—Main Worship Center
Intergenerational worship gathering with indy-folk-rockish music and good preaching… too fun!
“COFFEE HOUSE” @ 10:30ish
Coffee, conversation, and donut holes in the TFB Courtyard.
COLLEGIUM @ 11 am—TFB College Room
Fifteen minutes of random yapping,
followed by 45 minutes of tangent-surfing and bible searching
TUESDAYS
BIBLE DISCUSSION @ 7:15-9:00 pm— TFB College Room
Bible study meets hangout. Thirty minutes of random yap
followed by directed digging. Right now we’re going through
Mike Yaconelli’s Messy Spirituality and the OT ‘hesed’ passages.
We’re also working on the Story of God media project.
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UPCOMING EVENTS
Spring Cleaning and Room Redo: March (Mgrs: Jeff B and Laura1)
Bowling, Dinner, and who knows what else: March (Mgr. Cassie M)
LA Food Bank (Mgr: TBA)
BBQ (Mgrs: Daniel and Danny)
Summer Camp—old style: June or July (Mgr: Jeff B)
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