Faith to Finish: The Perseverance God Honors
Scripture References
- Matthew 17:20
- Luke 16:10
- Zechariah 4:10
- Romans 5:3-4
- 1 John 3:13
- John 16:33
- Galatians 6:9
- Isaiah 43:2
- Revelation 21:4
- John 8:12
- Philippians 1:6
- Lamentations 3:22-23
- Ephesians 6:13
Introduction
In 1926, a young American swimmer named Trudy Ederle waded into the frigid water at Cape Gris-Nez, France, and started swimming toward England. Twenty-one miles of open sea, riptides, jellyfish, and fog lay between her and a finish line no woman had ever reached. Week 3 of “At the Movies” used her story, told in the film “Young Woman and the Sea,” as a living parable of Jesus’ words in Matthew 17:20: faith as small as a mustard seed can move mountains. But mountains don’t move in a moment. The speaker traced a consistent pattern in Scripture: before God entrusts anyone with something great, He first watches how they handle something small–and then He asks them to keep going when everything in them wants to quit. To move mountains for God’s glory, you will need four kinds of faith: faith to start small, faith to face opposition, faith to endure when it hurts, and faith to finish what God started.
Continue readingIs God Worth It? Faithfulness in the Silence
Scripture References
- Malachi 3
- Malachi 4
- Matthew 12
- Psalm 74
- Revelation 21
Introduction
- The study closed the “Completely” series in Malachi by merging the final two lessons into one question: “Is following God even worth it when life doesn’t seem to pay off?”
- Malachi 3:13-4:6 exposes Israel’s cynical complaints, contrasts them with a small faithful remnant, and then lifts the group’s eyes to the coming “day when I act,” when God will separate the righteous from the wicked and bring healing.
- The night pressed us to examine our own temptations to treat God transactionally and to remember that His apparent silence never equals His absence.
Giving God Our Best: Sacrifice, Covenant, and Relationships
Scripture References
- Malachi 1:7-14
- Malachi 2:10-16
Introduction
- Malachi confronts God’s people for bringing blemished, second-rate sacrifices and then wondering why heaven seems silent.
- Tonight’s lesson presses the class to see that God is not after our “leftover sushi” but our first and finest – and that the quality of our worship is inseparable from the way we treat one another.
- Half-hearted offerings, broken promises, and self-centered living desecrate the “sanctuary” of our bodies, homes, and relationships.
- Faithfulness to God shows up as faithfulness to people.