Let it Go

This is a beautiful song written and performed by Margot Kinsey. Recording isn't great but I hope this song blesses you. It is a great reminder to let God lead us by letting go of the things that are keeping us from pursuing a relationship with Him. Let Him be your strength!

By Faith

We opened up this session with these questions:

What is faith? belief in something or someone one, trust

How is faith defined in Hebrews 11: 1?

Vs. 1 – Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

Faith requires us to ask ourselves what we are seeking after. What do we hope for? None of us can see into the future but most of you have faith that tomorrow you will wake up and go to school and your teacher will give you home work. How do you know this? You know because it has been tested. You know that if you go to school and you learn something that you will need to be tested in order to retain it and it happens every time.

Read Hebrews11:1-16, 32-40

Many of the figures we study in the Bible, at least initially, don’t have anything to fall back on. When God calls on Noah to build an Ark, Noah doesn’t have anything but a word from the sky that the flood will happen. When Abraham was told to pack up everything and go to an unknown location where his descendants would be as many as the stars he had only a promise that God would provide.  When David stood before Goliath, he had only the strength of his God. When Jesus tells the disciples to quit their jobs, leave their families, and sell everything they have to follow him, they have only the claims that Jesus was the coming messiah.  The promise that God would be with them was enough. This is what the author of Hebrews means by faith – to be sure of what we hope for and certain of what we cannot see.

In our own lives this may happen often. Some of you are preparing for graduation, or high school, or are dealing with tragedy that is going to change your day to day life. All of these require faith that what is in the future is in God's hands. When I was in high school, I poured all my energy into becoming a pilot. I talked to the military, took all the advanced math classes, and visited the school I wanted to go to for engineering. I was all set...until I failed my eye exam. There was no way I could be a pilot. At the time I was crushed and I can't say that I had a lot of faith in my future at this point, but my faith was tested and God has taken my life in a direction that is far better than what it could have been.

It’s scary to walk forward without being able to see what is in front of us. We have to trust that God has our best interest in mind and where he asks us to go he will prepare the way. God never sent one of his followers without hope for something better. He promises each one of us that if we will believe in him, we will have eternal life. This is the hope that we have through all things. None of us has seen God or heaven, but by faith God will lead us home.

"Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." ~ 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

The Prodigal

Read Luke 15:11-32

Both sons in the passage are deeply loved by their father. One serves him diligently his entire life and the other leaves his family and blows all his inheritance for a life of ease. He soon realizes he can’t sustain it and he will have to go back. He goes so far as to desire the food that the pigs eat. Yuck!! Knowing he has been defeated and that he has disgraced his family, he decides to go back and see if his father will hire him. He sinned against his father and says himself that “he is no longer worthy to be called his son.” While he is walking his father sees him and runs after him. The son apologizes, but the father rejoices because his son has returned. He showers his son with love.

Like we talked about at the retreat last weekend, God knows our hearts. He knows our story, the places where we fall and the places where we stand up for Him. In this story we see that God loves us regardless of what has a happened to us in our past or bad decisions that we have made. The father in this story doesn’t yell at his son or make him feel guilty, he runs to him with open arms. God rejoices when we turn to him. Jesus died so that we wouldn’t be bound to death by sin. The father pleads with the older son to celebrate with them, because what was lost is found, his son who was dead is now alive.

Sometimes we have a hard time believing that God could forgive us or that when he died for our sins that he has truly given us life. It’s hard for a few reasons. Sometimes it’s because we are ashamed of our past and we can’t forgive ourselves for what we have done in order to allow God to heal us. Sometimes we just don’t quite understand unconditional love because it’s not apparent in our culture. Love is thrown around and has little meaning. If you hurt someone emotionally or get in a fight, often times that friendship might end, so why wouldn’t we assume that the same would happen with God? Because God is God.

God loves us unconditionally unlike any human being ever could and absolutely nothing can separate us from that love (Romans 8:38-39). He is able to do so because He is love. Not sappy chick flick love, but real true love.

1 John 4:9-18

We struggle to believe God loves us even in our sin because we fear punishment, we fear we will have to change or that we will lose something, but his perfect love drives out fear. When he lives in us, his love is made complete in us and we are free to live for him and to love him with all we have.