February 25, 2024
Hope Seeds
Isaiah 6:9-13
God asked Isaiah to give the people of Israel a message. Although they won’t listen to Isaiah, God tells him to keep preaching until the land is laid to waste and the people are carried away into exile. God says Israel will ‘look like pine and oak forest with every tree cut down, every tree a stump, a huge field of stumps.’ God continues to speak to Isaiah: ‘BUT there’s holy seed in those stumps.’
Songs for this week: Spotify
Isaiah 6:9-13
- How do you relate to the Isaiah 6 picture of a ‘field of stumps’? Why does loss sometimes feel like a stump?
- Has there been a time when you’ve been between two things, for example, between jobs, between relationships, between places to live? What did that feel like? Were you able to find God in the midst of it?
- False hope is when I try to convince myself to be hopeful by thinking that things aren’t as bad as they look. Have you experienced false hope? How did that impact you?
- Brueggemann describes the prophetic tasks of the church as, to “tell the truth in a society that lives in illusion, grieve in a society that practices denial and express hope in a society that lives in despair.” Which task do you relate to the most? The least? How can we do these three things better?
- Why is having hope hard sometimes? Is there a promise that God has made that helps you stay hopeful today?
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Recent Sermons
James 2:14-26 -James continues to press deep into the muscles and tissues of our faith. Is your faith doing what it was designed to do? Just like you might go to the doctor for a physical check-up, James offers a self-administered faith check-up in this passage. Where do you see signs of life in your faith?
James 1:19-27 - James is direct: angry words, thoughtless words, and religious words don’t have a place in a life of faith. Our words don’t work … but God’s word does! Our job is simply to cooperate with his word.
James 1:1-8 - James gets right down to business! For everyone not currently soaking in a hot tub, suffering is a first order of business. In just a few verses, James explains how trials can grow maturity, how wisdom helps the journey, and how to avoid wasting a suffering experience.
Empowered Baptism is recognized throughout the Church as the beginning of a ‘God thing.’ John’s baptism was a visible demonstration of the start of a new life — clearing out the junk to prepare for what God was about to do. Jesus’ baptism reveals the true heart of baptism: God’s desire to bless and express His delight. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is the start of the Kingdom. Ordinary women and men were now filled with the Spirit of Jesus to continue on the ministry Jesus started.
Luke 3:21-22 -At Jesus’ baptism, the Father said, “You’re my son. I love you. I’m proud of you.” As Christians, our baptism is a sign that we are in Christ, that what is true about him is true about us, and that the Father’s blessing now defines us.
Luke 3:1-20 - The first mention of baptism in the Bible begins with John. John was the cousin of Jesus and also His opening act. John called the people of his day to "Get Ready." The public sign of a life getting ready for God was, and still is, baptism. Get washed so God can do what God wants to do.
