What should we teach about?
It’s that time of year. I’m starting to think about what we will do for teaching series in the coming year. We already have series coming together on:
- Prayer
- Core Qualities of God
- Sex
- Controversial Issues in Bible/church (feel free to submit ideas for this one!)
- Power of sacrifice
But, I need your help! In the comments section below, give me what you would LIKE to hear, NEED to hear, Have always WONDERED about, or (even better) something you think would be attractive to that person you’ve been thinking about inviting to Suncrest…
Open to any and all ideas…(and don’t foget to give me some suggestions for the series about controversial) issues. Thanks!
(Click next to “comments” below to put in your suggestions.)
.Real.Greg.Lee. 
Where God is at in our Life Stages – singles,newly weds, young parents, parents of teens, empty nesters, seniors – I think we experience God and lean on Him in different ways for each of those times. A different approach than how to be a Christian parent or how to relate to your wife/husband but how we relate to God (and what we learn from Him) at each of those stages…
What The Heck is the Holy Spirit? (And why should I care?) Talk about the power the spirit brings, the difference it makes, etc
This question came up in my small group study this morning. In the Old
Testament God seemed to punish “evildoers”. Why does it seem like He ignores so much evil now. Since the Internet, pornography has skyrocketed and children (even infants) are being raped and abused, video taped and placed for all to see. These children are totally helpless. A statistic I heard last week, less than 1% of these children will ever be resued. Where is God? Why doesn’t he strike these people down to protect the helpless? If these children do survive, they will forever have problems. What about their souls? I have to believe they will blame God. How will they trust? I understand God is a forgiving God but He allows so much evil at the expense of the innocent. Pretty heavy topic.
I run into so many people who are non-believers and I often struggle with how to approach them about God and Jesus. So many people are so angry and they turn away from God instead of into Him. Many discussing how to talk about Jesus without being aggressive or demeaning to others. I am a believer and I run into people who leave little to be desired when they become aggressive in their conversations about believing in Christ.
I also just participated in a study that really taught me about the importance of the Holy Spirit. We don’t seem to receive a lot of education on the third person of the Trinity and I think we should. It really helped me understand the importance of the Holy Spirit that dwells within me and how I sabbatoge the relationship by not opening up my heart to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit.
I guess this would fall under the category of prayer. For a while now it seems as though my prayer time has hit an all time low. I can’t seem to stay focused and so many times as I am praying there is a tremendous feeling of a lack of presence. At first, when I would pray it felt as though God’s presence just was not there. As I really became honest about it, I realized that the presence that was missing was actually me. I love God with all my heart, so how can this happen? Where am I when I pray?
Controversial Topics:
“The 6 Unspeakables”
1) Homosexuality
2) Masturbation
3) Pre-marital sex
4) Abortion
5) Adultry
6) Divorce
And how about a series on Spiritual gifts or different religions of the world.
The Power of Sacrifice…. Sacrifice is so good for the soul! Seven pages of prayer requests made me think this topic would be helpful especially now. Times are tough, people are down and tend to become selfish and desparate, some even desperate enough to come to church. But by thinking of others and sacrificing when you think you can not help…is truly a testament to God.
great stuff, everyone. keep it coming!
Would love to hear your insight on divorced moms and their teenaged boys. When there is no father figure inside the home, how do you compensate for giving him what he needs.
Thanks so much for asking.
Quick brain dump…I’ll try to give it more thought later.
I think the controversial issues will be good, we could include pornography in that.
I think something from Francis Chan and Crazy Love could be good…sort of akin to the 2.0 series of the difference between what we call being a Christ follower and what is being a Christ follower.
If we do something on relationships I wonder if it would be good to do something specific on men’s “role” and women’s “role” or assumptions about those roles – even a week specifically addressed to men – the man up stuff from Driscol?
Maybe a back-to-school parenting thing.
I think some people are interested in how to share Christ with others. We could do something about how to start those conversations?
Sometimes just working through a book like Colossians or Timothy is refreshing too.
Teach on boldness! http://tiny.cc/rlxQZ Speaking of Francis Chan!
tim
From John Schoon:
Old Testament stories. How do you get them to relate for today’s life. Why are some of them in the Bible? How would you explain them to a new Chrsit Follower or someone who is not a Christ Follwer yet?
Crazy stories: Jephthah’s vow, Judah and Tamar, King David’s child raising skills…Absolom, Amnon, Adonijah and Solomon.
Job, is there a better story to talk about Life on this earth through the Suffering , perserverence, temptation of Satan, pressure from peers even from fellow christians and non. The uncomfortable feeling of why did God wait so long to relieve him of his misery? It is very uncomfortable reading about someones long enduring agony. But even after everyone seems to have left Job, God is there and always has been.
I can’t say I have ever been able to read through this entire book, but if I’m feeling sorry for my self all I have to think of is Job and know God is near and will show up when He thinks its best.
Personally I would love to hear and learn the lessons in this book that could help me and others in this time of changes in our world, and also how to be there for people going through rough times.
* Looking forward to the Prayer topic this summer – prayer is my life line to God.
I would like to hear more about Gods instructions on taking care of widows and orphans. Focus on the family had a pastor speak on this subject this past week, and I couldnt help but think about, and see possibilities for our church in this much needed area. I’ve even heard of other churches having great success with adoption ministries. I realize God does not call everyone to adopt, or have big families, but the need is great, and a few willing hearts could make a big difference.
I had this idea tonight. This is all just a brainstorm.
Series Title: Identity Theft
Sermon Titles:
Created in his image (Genesis 1:26-27)
Created as a work of art (Ephesians 2:10)
Created with purpose (Jeremiah 29:11)
Created with love (Zephaniah 3:16-17)
Created to be his children (Ephesians 1:3-14)
(Those are just the verses that popped into to my head for starters).
This series would be all about how living in a broken world has ruined how we view ourselves (identity theft). But also about finding our identity in Christ. (You can DEF use stories from CR to drive this one too). I am sure you could get some fun illustrations from stories about identity theft…maybe make some ridiculous videos of Doug pretending to be Jared…
tim
I would like for our church to have xxxchurch materials for something they call, “Porn Sunday.” Pornography is like a vicious circle of death; it kills marriages, breaks up families, and destroys souls for eternity. The problem is that it’s not just outside of the church, it’s also from within the church. I think part of the problem is that the church doesn’t really touch this subject too deeply because it’s such a sensative issue, yet we need to address this problem to reach out to those in need.