Your Personal Grow-Pray-Study (GPS) Guide

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You are invited to our Christmas Services!!

Day 1: Read Luke 1:31-33. What do you learn about Jesus in these verses? Which of the phrases and statements made by the angel stands out for you? 

Day 2: Read Luke 1:34. Zechariah asks the same question (Luke 1:18) Mary does. Zechariah’s question comes out of his weakness and doubt, Mary’s from her heart and faith. Why the difference? What draws you to doubt in your response to God? What draws out your faith in God? 

Day 3: Read Luke 1:35. What do you learn about Jesus in this verse?  

Day 4: Read Luke 1:37. We do not have a problem discovering what seems impossible in life, whether it be in our family, at our work, or in our daily existence. What we discover with the angel's words are that, the impossible begins to become possible when God's grace is given. Where do you need to remind yourself that God makes all things possible in your life today? 

Day 5: Read Luke 1:38. Mary didn’t just choose to serve. She chose to be a servant. What have you done in the last 24 hours that nobody but a Christian would do? What keeps you from being all-in with God? Are you ready to make “I am the Lord’s Servant” your automatic response to what you face in the day ahead? 

Day 6: Read Luke 1:38. Mary prays, “Thy will be done” instead of “Thy will be changed”. Where are you tempted to pray to God, “Thy will be changed”? Where is God calling you to pray, “Thy will be done”?  

You can GO DEEPER this week by reading the book The Real Mary by Scot McKnight.

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

CREATE FOR COMMUNITY PRAYER REQUESTS: For patience with parking challenges during construction (currently estimating completion by the end of January 2020). For safety and efficiency of our construction crews. For those who have given generously for these improvements.

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90 Seconds Challenge -- Every day from now until Christmas, Pastor Burkey is inviting us to sit silent before God for 90 seconds. Amid the chaos of the Christmas season, find His calming voice to prepare you. Each day before you sit in silence for 90 seconds simply pray:

“Lord, Your work is greater than my perspective. Open my heart to leave room for You to work. In these 90 seconds of silence, realign the chaos in my life to the calm and peace you bring.”

Day 1: Read Luke 1:18. Zechariah speaks from his own perspective. He doubts what God has said He will do. Where do you find yourself doubting what God says He will do? How have His answers surprised you in the past? Where do you long for Him to surprise you in the day ahead?

Day 2: Read Luke 1:34. Mary prays for clarity. She doesn’t doubt God, (like Zechariah) instead she asks for clarity for how this will happen. Where do you know what God wants you to do, and you need His clarity for the next step to take? (HINT: That next step usually involves sacrificial love!)

Day 3: Read Luke 1:5-7. If you could pray only one prayer to God, what would that prayer be? How long have you been praying that prayer? What kind of answers have you received?

Day 4: Read Luke 1:8-10. Teresa of Avila observed: "All difficulties in prayer can be traced to one cause: praying as if God were absent." What prayer request do you find challenging to pray? Where in your life are you doubting God’s presence? Where do you need to remind yourself, “God is with me! He’s got this!”?

Day 5: Read Luke 1:20 and Luke 1:22. What most people see as punishment for Zechariah’s doubt, I see as God’s discipline for Zechariah’s growth. More than punishment the 9-month silent treatment develops a discipline in Zechariah where he not only finds his voice, he finds his faith. How has your experience of 90 seconds of silence before God been this week? What has God been speaking to your heart? From His Word?

Day 6: Read Luke 1:68 and Luke 1:76-79. Zechariah embraces the discipline of silence and when his son John is born, he sings a powerful faith song. What resonates with you from Zechariah’s faith song? From your one prayer? From your 90 seconds of silence today? As you pray today, follow Andrew Murray’s advice: “Let this be your chief objective in prayer, to realize the presence of your heavenly father.”

You can GO DEEPER this week by reading the book A Praying Life: Connecting with God in a Distracting World by Paul Miller.

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

CREATE FOR COMMUNITY PRAYER REQUESTS: For patience with parking challenges during construction (currently estimating completion by the end of December 2019). For safety and efficiency of our construction crews. For those who have given generously for these improvements.