Your Personal Grow-Pray-Study (GPS) Guide

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Day 1: Read Revelation 1:5. John praises Jesus for who He is and what He has done for us. What three words or phrases would you add to praise Jesus for who He is? What three words or phrases would you add to praise Jesus for what He has done for us?

Day 2: Read Revelation 1:4. The grace of God is not only to balance a sin ledger from our past, but it’s the power God gives to live each day to pursue His power, to live with His presence, to share His power of love with the world around us.  How have you experienced God’s grace at work in your life in the last 24 hours? Where are you praying for His grace to work in the next 24 hours?

Day 3: Read Revelation 1:5. What do the three phrases John uses in the beginning of this verse mean for your life about who Jesus is to you? When you think of the difference Jesus has made in your life (and can make in someone else’s), on what parts of Jesus story do you focus?

Day 4: Read Revelation 1:8. Look over your life the past 24 hours. Who has overseen your life at home? At work? On the computer? With family? With friends? On your phone and TV?

Day 5: Read Revelation 1:6. What is the most beautiful thing you have experienced this week? Why do you consider it so beautiful? How did or do you see God at work in such a beautiful thing? How might this be a starting point with someone about a conversation of who God is? Whom will you share that message with this week?

Day 6: Read Revelation 1:7. One of the Biblical images for Christians is to be an “ambassador for Christ”. Even as great as the United States is, we are citizens of heaven, ambassadors charged to bring “up there down here”. When are you tempted to get your citizenship in heaven confused with your citizenship on earth? How can you place a higher priority of bringing God’s will “up there” as part of your work He has given you “down here” in the week ahead?

You can GO DEEPER this week by reading the following book - Soul Keeping: Caring for the Most Important Part of You by John Ortberg.

Don't forget you can listen to this week's message or read the full PDF of the message & GPS. 

 AS PRAY THIS WEEK FOR CREATE FOR COMMUNITY: For patience with parking challenges during construction. For safety and efficiency of our construction crews. For those who have given generously for these improvements.

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Day 1: Read Hebrews 10:14. When Jesus came, He came to die for our sins. He created community through His cross, by giving His life that we might have life.  Take some time today in confession of sin, especially those that are obstacles to community, and ask God's forgiveness.

Day 2: Read Hebrews 10:18. The writer to the Hebrews says that God eternally forgives you. Jesus has paid the price. The forgiveness is real, and it lasts for all eternity. What helps you to remember God's forgiveness?  Why is such forgiveness so important in overcoming the withdrawal and attack sins of the Porcupine Problem?

Day 3: Read Hebrews 10:19-22. In the American church we to often lose the "power of we" and focus on how Jesus only affects me.  That's one reason why I love these words from Hebrews 10. The writer could have targeted his words to individuals. Instead, he writes about us, he writes about the power of Jesus with us, not just with you or with me, but with all of us connected together in Jesus.  What does the writer of Hebrews say that "we" are to do?  How are the imperatives of this verse lived out in our life in a daily and weekly basis?

Day 4: Read Hebrews 10:23. I need you. You need me. We all need Christ. In the temple, the holy of holies was only accessible to one, to the priest. But in the blood of Jesus, the great high priest who became the sacrifice for us, not just one of us, but all of us with faith in Christ are invited to enter in together. Where have you experienced the "power of we," in living out the Christian faith with others?

Day 5: Read Hebrews 10:24. Jesus-centered Community is the one place where it is fully safe for us to take off our masks and to know the healing power of being known and loved - to stop hiding. Faith, hope, and love are experienced in a relationship with God and with other people.  That's why we gather in worship.  That's why we have Life Groups and Bibles Classes.  Where do you best experience Jesus-centered community that spurs you toward love and good deeds? How are you being spurred on to server with Christ's love? Who are you spurring on to live out Christ's love?

Day 6: Read Hebrews 10:25. When we experience the hot charcoal effect instead of the cooling one, here's what we're able to do. We spur one another on the good deeds. We encourage one another. In other words, we make each other better, and we make life better for one another. We cultivate community. Today, pray for the places and people that cultivate community with God in your life.  Thank God for those who encourage you.  Ask God to give you people each day you can encourage in living out their faith.

DAILY PRAYER: Holy Spirit, I pray that this day You will fill me with Yourself and cause Your fruit to ripen in my life: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

AS PRAY THIS WEEK FOR CREATE FOR COMMUNITY: For patience with parking challenges during construction. For safety and efficiency of our construction crews. For those who have given generously for these improvements.

You can GO DEEPER this week by reading the following book - Life Together by Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

Don't forget you can listen to this week's message or read the full PDF of the message & GPS. 

  Parking Update!

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Day 1: Read Titus 2:11. The Christian life flows out of grace, not guilt. Grace is not an excuse for lack of self-control. Grace is the power behind exercising self-control. How has God’s grace helped you when it comes to cultivating self-control? Where do you need to pray for His gracious power to be at work in your life?

Day 2: Read Titus 2:12. The ability to say no to sin is not the natural response, it’s the supernatural response. God’s grace opens our eyes to see what is right and what is wrong. God works not just back then, but His grace works now in the present age. Look back at the past 24 hours. Where did God provide His power to say no to sin? Where do you need God’s power to seek and receive His forgiveness?

Day 3: Read Titus 2:13. In this verse, Paul calls us to celebrate today what God is doing now and will do for all eternity through His lasting grace power. How does our future heavenly hope help you keep perspective amid our present out of control culture? Where do you sense God prompting you to pray for our world today? Why do you think He has placed such an issue, such a burden, on your heart to pray?

Day 4: Read Genesis 39:6-10.  And you thought sexual harassment and the #MeToo movement are new to our day? Notice that Joseph’s self-control is not rooted in his will power or in this case his won’t power, but in his relationship with God.  When have you seen God bring an out-of-control situation back in control? What happened? What lessons did He teach you? What out-of-control situation are you facing right now where you need to remember God is in control?

Day 5: Read Genesis 39:20-21. In a life that felt out of control, from favored son to slave to running the master’s business to prisoner, Joseph practiced self-control. Throughout his ordeal God was shaping Joseph’s character empowered by God’s grace and favor. How has God been cultivating your character throughout this Fruit of the Spirit series?  What has been your experience in praying the Cultivate Prayer (opening prayer on page 1) each day? What is one area of the Fruit of the Spirit blend, you hope God will continue to cultivate in the days ahead?

Day 6: Read Matthew 26:38-39. How do you sense Jesus getting ready for what the next 24 hours will bring as He prays to His Father? Where do you need to give up control, and say, “Father, not my will, but Your will be done”? What’s holding you back? How is God moving you forward?

DAILY PRAYER: Holy Spirit, I pray that this day You will fill me with Yourself and cause Your fruit to ripen in my life: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

AS PRAY THIS WEEK FOR CREATE FOR COMMUNITY: For patience with parking challenges during construction. For safety and efficiency of our construction crews. For those who have given generously for these improvements.

You can GO DEEPER this week by reading the following book - Cultivating the Fruit of the Spirit: Growing in Christlikeness by Christopher J. H. Wright.

Don't forget you can listen to this week's message or read the full PDF of the message & GPS. 

 Parking Update!

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Day 1: Read Proverbs 25:15. When you think of gentleness as "power under control”, who comes to mind? Where might God be calling you to bring the power of gentleness to transform a situation or relationship?

Day 2: Read Philippians 4:13. Too often people think this verse means, “Lord, give me the power to do what I want.” Could it be that God wants to give you the power for what He wants you to do? Where do you need God’s power in your life today to do His will? Where have you seen His power at work in your life in the past 24 hours?

Day 3: Read 1 Timothy 6:12-13. Where are you feeling pushed to fight the good fight of faith? What are some key convictions of the Christian faith that you believe are foundational for your life?

Day 4: Read Matthew 11:28-29. Where do you need Jesus to provide some rest in your life? Where is Jesus calling you to pick up His yoke (His teaching, His purpose) for your life?

Day 5: Read Proverbs 15:1-2. If God gave you a “gentleness gauge”, where would you most likely need to place it? In your car as you drive? At your computer screen in responding to email? In your children’s bedroom? At the dinner table? At your child’s sporting event? At your workplace? Where would you need such a gauge in your life? Where does your “gentleness gauge” run in the danger zone? In your sweet spot?

Day 6: Read Proverbs 25:21-22. Gentleness balances being “tough with convictions” and “tender with people”. Sometimes though, we get those backwards: tough on people and tender with convictions that can quickly change. In the scales of gentleness, do you tend more on the tough on conviction side or the tender with people side? What helps you maintain the proper balance to keep gentleness as “power under God’s control”?

DAILY PRAYER: Holy Spirit, I pray that this day You will fill me with Yourself and cause Your fruit to ripen in my life: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

AS PRAY THIS WEEK FOR CREATE FOR COMMUNITY: For patience with parking challenges during construction. For safety and efficiency of our construction crews. For those who have given generously for these improvements.

You can GO DEEPER this week by reading the following book - Cultivating the Fruit of the Spirit: Growing in Christlikeness by Christopher J. H. Wright.

Don't forget you can listen to this week's message or read the full PDF of the message & GPS.