Source SM Recap: Volume #52

Series: LegitWeek 2: “Christ through Me” The Word: Mark 4:1-10, 13-20, 2 Corinthians 5:17. Main Thought: A legit follower of Christ will change.

Message Explanation: Once a person becomes a legit follower of Christ, what is next?

Jesus says this in Mark 4:13: “Then Jesus said to them, “If you can’t understand the meaning of this parable, how will you understand all the other parables?”  The Parable of the Sower unlocks all the other parables Jesus taught. Mark 4:3-9: “Listen! A farmer went out to plant some seed. ⁴ As he scattered it across his field, some of the seed fell on a footpath, and the birds came and ate it. ⁵ Other seed fell on shallow soil with underlying rock. The seed sprouted quickly because the soil was shallow. ⁶ But the plant soon wilted under the hot sun, and since it didn’t have deep roots, it died. ⁷ Other seed fell among thorns that grew up and choked out the tender plants so they produced no grain. ⁸ Still other seeds fell on fertile soil, and they sprouted, grew, and produced a crop that was thirty, sixty, and even a hundred times as much as had been planted!” ⁹ Then he said, “Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand.”

The “Sower” represents Jesus. The soils represent the responses to the gospel. 4 Types of Responses to the Gospel of Jesus:

1. Doubting Listener (4:4, 15) Luke 4:15: “The seed that fell on the footpath represents those who hear the message, only to have Satan come at once and take it away.” Satan is called the “prince of the power of the air.” Satan consumes the seed by making the hearer doubt the claims of the Gospel.

 2. Deceived by Emotions (5-6, 16-17) Luke 4:16-17: ^“The seed on the rocky soil represents those who hear the message and immediately receive it with joy. ¹⁷ But since they don’t have deep roots, they don’t last long. They fall away as soon as they have problems or are persecuted for believing God’s word.”  

Explanation: The enthusiastic, emotional response: “immediately sprang up” as a quick response. This person wants all the BLESSINGS of the gospel but doesn’t want to follow Jesus. They want HEAVEN, FORGIVENESS, and an ABUNDANT life. They do not repent and go back to their old life soon after. They run from Jesus just as fast as they made the decision. 

3. Distracted by Stuff (4-7, 18-19) Luke 4:18-19: “The seed that fell among the thorns represents others who hear God’s word, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the worries of this life, the lure of wealth, and the desire for other things, so no fruit is produced.”

Thorns: Tough, thistle-bearing weeds that use up the available space, light and water that plants need to live. They love money more than Jesus. One thing different in this false convert is that they have good soil. These people understand the Gospel, have a conviction of sin, and make a decision for Jesus.

4. Legit Commitment to Jesus (8-9, 20)

Luke 4:20: “And the seed that fell on good soil represents those who hear and accept God’s word and produce a harvest of thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as had been planted!”

Fertile Soil: He who is with hearts to hear, let him hear. Jesus is telling the crowd to be attentive and discern what the story means. Good soil represents a LEGIT Christ-follower. Surrender and willingness

(1) Which type of soil best represent your heart? (2) If not the good soil, would you come to Jesus today and have Him change your heart

Element of Fun: The students played the game, "Is it Really in the Bible? ” It was a fun game to watch at all campuses!

Music: Not Ashamed, Search My Heart, Your Love Never Fails, With Everything.

Favorite Moment: Celebrating student beginning a relationship with God and for those who are going to be baptized!

What’s Next: We will begin a series called, "Home Improvement" in November.

To watch any of the series messages, check out the vimeo page

Source SM Recap: Volume #32

Current Series: Reckless Title: “Reckless Love” The Word: Mark 2:1-12, Colossians 3:23-24 Main Thought: God's love for the world is to be shown through Me. Now.

Message Explanation: Have you ever heard someone say, “I cannot wait to grow up!” “I want my license, or graduate!” It seems that there are never happy in any stage of life they are in. The normal response to life is to be selfish right? It is the opposite of LOVE. We can all be selfish can’t we? Tonight we are going to look at RECKLESS LOVE to others.

Reckless series verse: "Don’t let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity." 1 Timothy 4:12.

What would your life and my life look like if we had unshakable, unstoppable faith in God? We are going to look at a story of friends who truly had faith in God enough that they brought their friend to Jesus.

 Jesus was early in his ministry and was seeing many people want to follow His ministry. He was in a house, many think it was Peter’s house. Jesus was taking a special time to stay there. People were cramming into the house! When Jesus is PRESENT people will come out!

 Mark 2:1-3: “When Jesus returned to Capernaum several days later, the news spread quickly that he was back home. 2 Soon the house where he was staying was so packed with visitors that there was no more room, even outside the door. While he was preaching God’s word to them, 3 four men arrived carrying a paralyzed man on a mat.

The paralyzed man was more than likely a quadriplegic, a severe condition. In biblical times people didn’t know how to help them. Many times people viewed others with deformities as sinners. The friends were PASSIONATE about helping their friend get to Jesus.

Mark 2:4: They couldn’t bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, so they dug a hole through the roof above his head. Then they lowered the man on his mat, right down in front of Jesus.

 Notice how Jesus responds to their faith:

Mark 2:5: “Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “My child, your sins are forgiven.”

Jesus responds to their faith! Because of the evidence of their faith, He healed the friend. But some people were skeptical:

Mark 2:6-12: But some of the teachers of religious law who were sitting there thought to themselves, 7 “What is he saying? This is blasphemy! Only God can forgive sins!” 8 Jesus knew immediately what they were thinking, so he asked them, “Why do you question this in your hearts? 9 Is it easier to say to the paralyzed man ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or ‘Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk’? 10 So I will prove to you that the Son of Man has the authority on earth to forgive sins.” Then Jesus turned to the paralyzed man and said, 11 “Stand up, pick up your mat, and go home!” 12 And the man jumped up, grabbed his mat, and walked out through the stunned onlookers. They were all amazed and praised God, exclaiming, “We’ve never seen anything like this before!”

How do we have reckless love?

  1. Get rid of excuses to love people (v. 3-4)

The four men cared about their friend. It is easy to come up with excuses for why something WON’T happen right? The paralytics friends had enough faith that they took drastic measures to get to Jesus. Notice what James says about our faith: "Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead." James 2:17

2. Show Love by your actions (v. 5)

Jesus “saw their faith.” Faith is moving from knowing to doing. Knowledge VS. Understanding. It is the difference between FACTS and TRUST. It goes from impersonal to personal.

Hebrews 11:6: "Without faith it is IMPOSSIBLE to please God"

4 Characters in this story: Who do you identify with in this story?

One of the friends The skeptics The Paralytic The Crowd

3. Give Love without expecting it in return (8-12)

Colossians 3:23-24 “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.” The four men refused to give up hope for their friend! Who in your life have you given up on today? It is never too late if they are still breathing.

We need to reach OUT to the world and not get so focused upon ourselves here at church. What you and I do with our life REVEALS our love.

Element of Fun: We played a middle school game with trivia from different movies and tv shows. It was a fun and interactive game! We also showed a video to create tension during the message called, "Mr. and Mrs. Selfish!"

Mr. and Mrs. Selfish from Source Student Ministries on Vimeo.

A video illustration of selfishness to help set up the message for reckless love and service to God in week 3 of the "Reckless" series!

Music: The Time has Come, Your Voice is Hope, Amazing Grace (My chains are gone), Set a Fire.

Favorite Moment: A high school student began a relationship with Christ! Also, it was great hearing about small groups growing closer to each other and spending time praying for their friends.

What’s Next: We finish the last week of our series, “Reckless!” as we talk about reckless faith!

Source SM Recap: Volume #26

Current Series: “Awaken a Generation” Main Thought: God calls but it is up to us to answer. The Word: Isaiah 6:8, Ephesians 2:10, Joshua 1:9

Message Explanation: We live in a culture of Noise. (Emotional, mental, physical, spiritual). How can we answer something from God when our ears are full of noise?

Most ask, “How will I die” but the better question is, “How will I LIVE until I die.” Living the safest life possible is not the goal of following Christ.

 Recap: Isaiah wrote his book nearly 2,800 years ago and it still speaks to us today! I love the story of Isaiah. If you haven’t read the book of Isaiah, I urge you to check it out! Although he was a leader in a dark time during Israel’s history, he stepped up to God’s call. The story in Isaiah 6 explains his experience with God in the temple. Isaiah was awakened to the holiness of God. He realized that God was on His throne despite the pain of life. Isaiah was humbled by God’s presence and responded.

 Isaiah 6:8 “Then I heard the Lord asking, “Whom should I send as a messenger to this people? Who will go for us?” I said, “Here I am. Send me.”

How do we answer God’s Call?

Teaching point #1. Trust Christ (Proverbs 3:5-6). “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.”

Explanation of teaching point: God’s will is found when we decide to be courageous about following Jesus. Isaiah heard God’s voice once and trusted Him!

Trusting Jesus is the first step to understand all of life. Here is where the rubber hits the road. For you to go anywhere in your journey in following Jesus, you have to go through being shaped by God. At this point, I shared a monologue story between God and me. 

 Teaching Point #2. Listen to His Word. 

If this is the only time you read your Bible, you are starving spiritually.

Ephesians 2:10  Ephesians 2:10:“For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.”

Teaching Point #3: Be Available. 

Explanation of teaching point: Remember what Isaiah responded with to God’s call.  Isaiah 6:8 “Then I heard the Lord asking, “Whom should I send as a messenger to this people? Who will go for us?” I said, “Here I am. Send me.”

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9. 

Story: That monologue between God and the person is similar to the conversation I have with God. It is the story of how I was awakened to God's call on my life.

 God’s call is not a destination, it is an ongoing obedient response to God's call Everyday. In the good and the tough times. Sometimes the road seems uncertain but we serve a God who leads us through every step of the way.

God is doing something in you so that He can do something through you.

Answering the call is by saying “yes” to whatever God says!

- Isaiah was awakened to who God was - Isaiah responded in humility to God - Isaiah was changed by God - Isaiah was ready to say “yes” to God’s call on their life!

 Are you listening to His call? It is up to you to respond.  

Element of Fun: We played a version of "Hot potato" but with onions. Yes. It was gross. The middle school students passed it around and when the music stopped they had to take a bite of it. If not, they were out. It was hilarious and gross. Just the way middle schoolers like it. We had mints available!

Music: We are the Free, One Thing Remains, Your Love Never Fails, Forever Reign, Go (closing).

 Favorite Moment: A first time student let me know that he was responding to God's call on his life. He felt broken and God spoke to Him that night! Praise God!

Planning Center:

What’s Next: We begin a new series, "Facebook Official" as we talk about God's plan for relationships.