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The Great Divide – October 9 2011 Brad Bessent 

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“Love Serves” 9-11-11  Brad Bessent

“There is no Maybe” 9-4-11 Brad Bessent

“Love Connects” 09-18-11 Brad Bessent

“Love Covenants” 9-25-11 Brad Bessent

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“Say Yes to the 40/60 Challenge” - 7-31-2011 Brad Bessent

“By Prayer and Fasting” – 8-7-2011 Brad Bessent

“Say Yes, Embrace the Vision” 8-14-2011 Brad Bessent

“Who Needs to Change” 8-28-11 Brad Bessent

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“Say Yes” 7-03-2011 Brad Bessent

“Say Yes to the God” – 7-10-2011 Brad Bessent

“Say Yes To the Church” – July 17, 2011 Brad Bessent

Say Yes to God’s Leaders 7-24-2011 Brad Bessent

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JR Vassar – The Holy Spirit June 5, 2011

Tony Evans – The Role Of The Church June 12, 2011

Erwin McManus – The Meaning Of Work June 19, 2011

Max Lucado – Outlive Your Life June 26, 2011

Last night, Steve taught the students the story of Jonah. God specifically called Jonah to go preach to a people that was the enemy of Jonah and his people.  In an attitude of prejudice and disobedience, Jonah ran from God and did not follow His call initially, which brought some consequences that changed Jonah’s mind.  In this story, we see God’s heart for all people, and His desire for our obedience to what He calls us to do, no matter how we feel about it.

God will call us to do things that are hard for us to do.  He calls us to reach out to even our enemies and those we do not like.  It is our response to His call that proves our faithfulness to Him and His mission.

Questions to discuss with your student:
-Who in your life would you consider and “enemy” or someone you don’t like?
-What can you do to begin to develop a heart to see them come to know Christ?
-What would it take to share Christ with them?
-Be honest: Is there anything God would call us to do that you are unwilling to do? How do you know? What do your answers to those questions say about your faithfulness to God?
-Are you hearing God’s call in your life? Are you following what He’s telling you to do?

Last night, Steve taught from Genesis 22, the account of Abraham being tested by God when he was asked to sacrifice the son of promise, Isaac.  What a difficult decision in so many ways it had to be for Abraham to take the trip up the mountain to obey God in this scenario, but he did.  He was willing to make a huge sacrifice to obey God, even when he may not have understood.

Through Abraham, all the nations of the world are blessed (Jesus came through the line of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, etc.). Genesis 22.18

Questions to discuss with your student:
-Why would it have been difficult for Abraham to obey God in this scenario?
-What would you have felt if you were Abraham? Isaac? What battles in your mind would you have had?
-What things in our lives are hard to sacrifice in order to follow God? Why?
-What has the greatest reward: following God and making the sacrifices He asks us to OR hanging onto those things that keep us from following Him closely? Why does that have the greatest reward? What are some of those rewards?
-What is faith? Why is that important when God asks us to do things that are hard to do or don’t seem to make sense in OUR minds?
-Who is being impacted in your life because of your faithfulness to God?
-Who is being impacted in your life because of your unfaithfulness to God?
-What in your life needs to change because of this story?

Last night, Steve brought it.  He is an excellent teacher, and our students responded in an incredible way.  We are incredible blessed to have him with us this month.  He taught the story of the Fall in Genesis 3.  God gave Adam and Eve instruction to not eat from the tree, but the serpent (Satan) tempted them to disobey God, and they did.  Of the many things that our students got from this lesson, the main point was this: Don’t follow the serpents in our lives.  Adam and Eve listened to the wrong voice.  Instead of following God’s voice, they followed the voice of God’s enemy.  And once they made that choice, it carried consequences that they couldn’t erase or run from.

Satan wants to destroy us.  And we need to learn to make sure we are following the voice of God in our lives, and not the voices that are seeking to draw us away from Him.

Questions to discuss with your student:
-Why is God’s voice the only one worth following?
-Why does Satan want to destroy us?
-What are some “voices” in our lives that draw us away from God?
-How can we distinguish whether an influence, or voice, in our life is from God or not?
-Why is it so tempting to follow the wrong voice, the serpents in our lives?
-What are some of the consequences of following the serpents in our lives?
-How can we make sure we follow the voice of God in our lives?
-Are we a serpent in someone else’s life? Are we drawing others away from obeying God?  How can we tell?  If so, what do we need to do about that?

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“The Amazing Race” May 1, 2011 Brad Bessent

“The Amazing Race” May 8, 2011 Brad Bessent

“The Amazing Race” May 15, 2011 Morning Service Keith Jefferson   

May 15 Evening Service Keith Jefferson   

“Across the Street” May 22, 2011 Brad Bessent

Aware of Ultimate Cost May 29, 2011 Brad Bessent

Give us today our daily bread (provision)
God says we can ask for our needs to be met.  This acknowledges that He is the only One who can provide for our needs perfectly.  When we look to other things or people to supply our needs, they replace God as the most important relationship in our lives.  Going to God for our needs keeps Him central in our lives.

And as we do, having already begun to focus on how awesome He is, asking for His will, and centering ourselves on Him (verses 9-10) in our prayers, we begin to ask for our needs to be met in a way that brings Him glory.  We pray for needs in a very God-centered, non-selfish way.  Jesus wants to meet our needs (Matthew 7.7-12), but our needs are met greatest when they are met in a way that He wants, that pleases Him, that fulfills His purposes.  That is the way we should be asking for needs to be met.  When we do so in that way (according to His will), we can ask for anything and know He hears us, and will respond (1 John 5.14-15).

Forgive us our debts (confession)
When we center our prayers around God and worshiping Him for who He is and what He’s done, we see how sinful we are in contrast.  To the heart that is desiring to honor God, this leads to confession and repentance.

David’s sin (2 Samuel 11) led to a very real time of confession and repentance of his sin in Psalm 51.  This grieving and response to our sin should be a very real part of our prayer lives.  Psalm 139.23-24 is a great prayer to help us in this.  And when we sincerely confess our sins, He forgives (1 John 1.9).

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one (protection)
A heart that sees how amazing God is and wants to honor Him will want protection from temptation, sin, and Satan’s desire to destroy us.  We should ask for this, knowing that God is great enough to give us victory (1 John 4.4).  Only God can keep us save and deliver us from evil and its influences.

Questions to discuss with your student:
-Who should we be looking to for our needs to be met? Why?
-How does praying in a worshipful, God-centered way change the way we pray for our needs and the needs of others?
-What are some needs we have and how can we pray God’s will for them?
-What are some examples that you’ve seen of God answering prayer?
-Why is confession of sin important?  What is the danger if we don’t do so?
-What does confession of sin acknowledge about ourselves? God?
-Why should we ask for protection against Satan and temptation?
-What do we know about God that shows He is more powerful than Satan and can protect us? Give examples.