Passage: John 15:1-17 Guide for Group Discussion or Personal Reflection Sermon Summary On Jesus’ final night, he sought to reframe his disciples’ view of growth, assuring them that they could continue to grow, and flourish in his work, even after he left to go to his Father. The key to their continued growth would be…
Passage: John 14:15-31 Guide for Group Discussion or Personal Reflection Sermon Summary On Jesus’ final night, he sought to reframe the perspective of his anxious disciples, so that they could have courage for the mission that would soon be theirs. In John 14:15-31 in particular, he sought in to reframe their perspective on his departure…
Passage: John 14:1-7 Guide for Group Discussion or Personal Reflection Sermon Summary On the night before Jesus’ death, all seemed dark for his disciples. Jesus’ impending betrayal loomed over them, as well as his unsettling reminder that he would soon be “going” away from them. Into this troubling context, Jesus spoke words of courage to…
At NSCBC, we believe that multiplying disciples who make disciples is crucial to seeing a gospel movement on the North Shore. Throughout the year, we want to highlight encouraging stories of our people growing through discipleship groups and preparing to multiply their faith. Will you tell us a little bit about yourself? I’m Jim Longhurst,…
Passage: Matthew 7:24-8:1 Guide for Group Discussion or Personal Reflection Sermon Summary In Matthew 7:24-8:1, Jesus concludes the Sermon on the Mount by compelling his hearers—and all of us today—into life-giving self-examination, to see whether or not our faith is genuine. To discern this, Jesus wants us to consider two questions in particular: whether we…
This is the fourth post in a series aimed at continuing to increase our clarity as a church around what it means to grow as Jesus’ disciples. You can read parts one , two, and three here. First Comes Renewal In the previous posts, I argued for the importance of concretely describing what it looks…
Passage: Matthew 7:15-23 Guide for Group Discussion or Personal Reflection Sermon Summary In Matthew 7:15-23, Jesus alerts his listeners to a sobering reality: it is entirely possible to believe you’re a true Christian, only to find out that you have never been one all along (7:23). This, in fact, is the situation that “many” people…
Passage: Matthew 7:12-14 Guide for Group Discussion or Personal Reflection Sermon Summary Towards the end of his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus describes two different “ways”, or paths that people might take as they approach life—a narrow way and a wide way. One way of life feels natural and intuitive, and therefore “many” walk this…
