As we wrapped up our series yesterday at Forefront, “Brick by Brick,” I wanted to share some side notes & extras. If you missed any of the series, you can head over here to watch/listen/share. Now to the wrap up & extras:

  • Books that were mentioned during the series: Crazy Love, Scary Close, ReJesus, Crazy Busy,  and One Way Love
  • We tend to like the idea/feeling of community, but want it without the baggage.
  • Week 1: “Community Takes Continual Commitment” (Acts 2 and The Early Church)
  • The darkness that lies in the shadows stifles us and keeps us from moving towards true community.
  • We begin thinking, “What if they won’t like me?” “What if my skeletons are too much for them?” “What if I open up and they hurt me.”
  • We tend to have a callously-comfotable heart. We like where we are and often refuse to move forward. Moving forward is what releases the fear and begins the road to true relationships.
  • week-1
  • Week 2: “Accountability: Applying The Love From Others, Because They Want To See Love In You” (Luke 19 and Zacchaeus Meeting Jesus)
  • To truly be accountable, you must be teachable.
  • With surrender to God, your mess will eventually become your message to reach/love others.
  • “Christianity is not about good people getting better. If anything, it is good news for bad people coping with their failure to be good. The heart of the Christian faith is Good News, not good advice, good technique, or good behavior.” Tullian Tchividjian, One Way Love
  • This week we had a bunch of Gel Group sign-ups. Looking for more info and to get in a Gel Group? Head over here for more.
  • week-2
  • Week 3: “Serving: Giving Of Yourself With Reckless Abandon, So Someone Can Experience Foundational Love” (Luke 15 and the Prodigal Son)
  • Our core value of Ebb & Flow, “God pouring into us, as we pour into others.”
  • Two questions to ask yourself, “How am I intentional about seeking God’s impact on my life?” and “How am I pouring into other people’s lives with love and grace?”
  • We cannot give away what we don’t have.
  • You cannot fully give if you’re too busy. Your schedule is running you, instead of you running your schedule. It’s time to sloooooowwww down and prioritize.
  • “The disorder of daily life is a product of disorder in the innermost places of the heart. Things are not the way they ought to be because we are not the way we are supposed to be. Which means our understanding of busyness must start with the one sin that begets so many of our other sins: pride.” Kevin DeYoung, Crazy Busy
  • week-3
  • Week 4: “You Go Despite Fear And Move Beyond Comfort, Because It’s Not About You, But Jesus For Others” (Acts 9 and Paul & Ananias Meet)
  • You go because you are not alone.
  • Joshua 1:9 “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”
  • You must go because you’re you and not me– and only you can be to do what only you can do.
  • Put plainly: be yourself. It’s better that way.
  • “…each of us is unique and if we didn’t exist something in the world would have been lost. I wonder, then, why we are so quick to conform— and what the world has lost because we have. Jesus was ‘all virtue and acted from impulse, not rules.’ If we are to be like him, aren’t we to speak and move and do, to act upon the world and take the message out? What if part of God’s message to the world is you? The true and real you?” Donald Miller, Scary Close
  • week-4

Looking forward to this Sunday as we kick off a brand new series, “The Road.” Sundays @ 9am, 11am and 5pm at 2520 Holland Road. Check out the trailer below: