Tag: resurrection

Losers: The Women [Beyond Sunday]

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Who gets to decide what defines victory? When we don’t live up to the world’s expectations, are we failures or are we just finding a different path to glory? The women of Jesus era are often in the background of the gospel story, but without their faith and support Christianity would not exist as we know it.  [hear sermon audio]

Devotion time is crucial to your growth in faith.  Here are some resources for yours this week:

Read:

Track the journey of the female disciples through the Gospel of Luke. Specifically look at Luke 8, Luke 23: 26-56, Luke 24: 1-12

Reflect:

  • What about your faith calls you to defy cultural expectations? How often are you tempted to conform rather than transform?

Do:

  • Try to Define Yourself: Make a list of who you think you are. What are your strengths and weaknesses, your passions and dislikes, your talents and struggles? Ask a love one to look it over and give you some feedback on how well you see yourself.

Share:

  • Share a lesson you learned from failure to our Facebook group or on Twitter and Instagram (tag us @dpumc).

 

Losers: Balaam [Beyond Sunday]

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Victory isn’t always pretty. And it doesn’t always come in the way we’d expect. Balaam tried hard to be faithful. Even though he ended up feeling foolish, God’s victory was still worked.  [hear sermon audio]

Devotion time is crucial to your growth in faith.  Here are some resources for yours this week:

Read:

The whole of Balaam’s story in the book of Numbers, Chapter 22-24

Reflect:

  • Which is more important to you: winning or looking good doing it? Is there any place in your life God might be at work in messy ways?

Do:

  • Try Vulnerability: Identify an area with which you are struggling. Find a trusted friend to share your difficulty with. Ask them what they see that you might have missed.

Share:

  • Share a story about a messy win to our Facebook group or on Twitter and Instagram (tag us @dpumc).

 

Losers: Samson [Beyond Sunday]

kewalkerLeave a comment

Part of the attraction of sports is that we love to cheer for winners and pity losers. But the dynamics of competition can skew our understanding of what it means to be successful in faith and life. Victory ultimately belongs to God. As we see in Samson’s story, when we lean on our own strenghth, arrogance and appearent succuess can lead to tradgic downfall. In humility and sacrifice, we are made greater than we could ever be on our own.  [hear sermon audio]

Devotion time is crucial to your growth in faith.  Here are some resources for yours this week:

Read:

The whole of Samson’s story in the book of Judges, Chapters 13-16.

Reflect:

  • Samson’s mother dedicated him to God, yet often his actions did not reflect that status. When you look at your own life, what actions match the faith you profess? What parts of your life still need to be turned over to God?

Do:

  • Give of Yourself: Identify a strenght you love to show off and a place it might be needed. Volunteer your time and talents without seeking recognition or reward. 

Share:

  • Share a story about a time you were humbled to our Facebook group or on Twitter and Instagram (tag us @dpumc).

 

Saved for More [Beyond Sunday]

kewalkerLeave a comment

Every Easter we come to the story of the resurrection, and hopefully, we hear it again anew.  This is our central story, the one that makes us who we are as Christian people.  In the account of the resurrection, we discover that not only are we saved from death, but we are saved for a life of abundance.  We are saved for more than we could ever imagine.  [hear sermon audio]

Devotion time is crucial to your growth in faith.  Here are some resources for yours this week:

Read:

Reflect:

  • How does each account of the resurrection differ?
  • What might be most important to each writer?
  • Why is the resurrection important to your life?  How do you live differently because of it?

Do:

  • Bring Life:Look around your life and community.  What is dead or struggling and in need of new life?  Does a garden need to be planted?  Do people need to be fed? Does a relationship need to be restored? Make a simple plan and take the first step this week. 

Share:

  • Many poems have been written about the resurrection.  Find one and share it to our Facebook group or on Twitter and Instagram (tag us @dpumc).