Respond to Sunday, August 11, 2019
“Submit To God’s Word” 2 Timothy 3:16-17 | Pastor Rickey Primrose
Truth: We must submit to God’s Word and look to be biblically transformed, not simply informed. The Bible is inspired, profitable, and sufficient and the ultimate authority for the people of God. Because we believe God’s word is our ultimate authority, we will be a church that submits to God’s word. We are hungry for God’s word because we long to be transformed by it and to submit our lives to it.
Response: What are some other authorities that you find yourself submitting to? What hinders you from experiencing the Bible as the book that brings you face to face with the Creator of the universe? Confess any other allegiances other than God and his word.
Truth: Submitting to God’s word will require a renewed mind. In order to submit to God’s word, we must know God’s word. We must feast on God’s word. We must have a steady diet of God’s word. The Bible is the instrument God uses to renew our minds.
Response: Do you daily renew your mind with the word of God? If the Bible is as important for our lives as we say it is, what are you doing to increase your intake of God’s Word?
Truth: Submitting to God’s word will require a submissive heart. If the Bible never convicts you, then you’re probably reading your own ideas into it. It is hard for us to admit that what we are thinking or doing isn’t right, and so, we often will try to twist God’s word to fit our belief system or lifestyle. When we do that, God’s word is no longer our ultimate authority, we are.
Response: How has the reading of God’s word changed you? If it hasn’t, are you willing to allow it to change you?
Truth: Submitting to God’s word will require a courageous faith. When we submit to God’s word it will sometimes require us to go where we don’t want to go, to give more than we feel comfortable giving, to stop something we don’t want to stop, and to engage people our flesh does not want us to engage. True courage is demonstrated in our willingness to submit to God’s word.
Response: Do you read, and live, as if scripture is truly breathed out by God? Do you truly believe the requirements and promises of God’s word? Pray that God will give you the courage and the discernment to know where you are not listening to his word.
Family Response
Truth: The first of our five core values is “Submit to God’s Word.” That means choosing to make our actions, attitudes, and words match what the Bible says. We have to make this decision over and over again because our natural instinct is to choose our actions, attitudes, and words out of our opinions, preferences, and desires.
Response: Why do we trust the Bible more than we trust ourselves? The words of the Bible come from God, so the words of the Bible are forever true, never changing, and always useful just like Him. Our words are sometimes untrue, our opinions change a lot, and sometimes we say things that aren’t useful at all.
Response: Teaching through discipline and disappointment are meaningful platforms for solidifying this value in your children. James 4:17 is a great place to bring a child struggling to choose to do what is right more than choosing not to do what is wrong. In 2 Samuel 7:18-29, we see David model how to respond to God when we don’t get what we want even if we think it would have been good. Physically turning to an appropriate text in the Bible during these discussions helps children understand that they are making a choice to submit to God’s Word and not simply your opinion.
Prepare for Sunday, August 18, 2019
Pray for the Church
- Leaders in worship: Pastor Rickey Primrose, Brandon Ramey & the Worship Music Ministry.
- God will meet with us through His word and by His Spirit, lead us to worship Christ and grow in Christ-likeness.
- God will help us to be a church of zeal and hope, passionate about ministry and confident in His promises.
- God will make us more passionate about and obedient to His mission of leading people to trust and follow Christ.
Prepare for the Message
“Depend on The Spirit” – John 14:15-17 | Pastor Rickey Primrose
We continue our mini-series this week entitled, “Distinct: The Core Values of MacArthur Blvd.” This Sunday we will be focusing on John 14:15-17 as the text that will drive the message around our value, “Depend on the Spirit.” Read John 14:15-30 this week in preparation for this message. As you read take note of how Jesus describes whom the Holy Spirit is and what the Holy Spirit will do. What are some attributes and name(s) of the Holy Spirit in this passage? How does Jesus describe the Holy Spirit helping us in living our lives as Christians? Do you see any connections between the Holy Spirit and God’s word? Pray about the application of this passage to you personally this week. Thank God for the strength, peace, comfort, and leading that the Holy Spirit provides in your life.
Music for Sunday
New Doxology
by Thomas Ken and Thomas Miller
God Is Able
by Ben Fielding and Reuben Morgan