Jeff Keuss
Lost and Found
January 16, 2022 • Jeff Keuss • Job 2:1–10, Matthew 4:1–11
Then Satan answered the Lord, “Does Job fear God for nothing?” – Job 1:9 Jesus said to him, “Away with you Satan! For it is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’” Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him. – Matthew 4:10, 11 Lost: • Body • Soul • Spirit Found: • Shema/ Be Attentive • Shadad/ Be Made and Unmade • Shalom/ Be Agents of Peace and Wholeness
Becoming Courageous: “Fear Not!”
December 19, 2021 • Jeff Keuss • Isaiah 40:1–5, Isaiah 41:10–13, Luke 1:13, Luke 1:30, Luke 2:10
“Maybe the place we experience God-with-Us today is in the very fears we have about our own lives, our own world, our own future. The fears that keep us from believing that anything can be different. The fears that we are here all on our own.... Today, let our fears be the starting place of divine connection.” God has not left us. “May you not be afraid, for Love has drawn near.” Scott Erickson, Honest Advent (191) I. The Root of Fear: “Where Are You?” II. The Response to Fear a. Imitation b. Contempt c. Violence III. The Hope of Fear: “The Fear of the Lord”
The Untamed Darkeness
March 18, 2018 • Jeff Keuss
How do you respond to this quote? What emotions do you experience? When have you experienced disorientation in your life? How did you navigate that time? When have you experienced joy in your life? When have you experienced pain? Where are you now? Where do you see tameable darkness in your life, places where your suffering is a result of your own actions or behavior? What do you find yourself focusing on? What do those things you focus on move you to? What are they moving you away from? What does it mean for you to wait on the Lord? What are you waiting for and as you are in this place, how easy is it to choose power over faith? How is the thing you are focusing on, and waiting for distracting you from following Christ wholeheartedly? How do you respond to fear? What do you fear? To what do you give reverence, besides Christ? What does it mean to you to be a good steward of your pain? How have you buried past pain or fear? Why is it easier to bury pain rather than expose it? How do we create space for others to unbury their pain? If you would like to open up, who can you talk to? What is the difference between following a map vs. following a guide? Which do you prefer? Who are the guides in your life? How easy is it to ask them for guidance? Bruggemann reminds us “that which cannot be resolved must, in time, be relinquished.” In what area of your life would you like to move forward? What needs to be let go of before you can move forward? What does it mean for you to shed light in your context, helping people see that darkness and light are a part of a whole life? Where are you shining light into darkness? What would you like to say to those you know who are trapped in the darkness?
The Power of Meekness; and the Weakness of Facebook
January 22, 2017 • Jeff Keuss
When have you seen meekness used as a derogatory characteristic? In the 8am service at GL, meekness was defined as exercising God's strength through His control. What does this definition stir in you? We tend to respond to conflict by either fighting or fleeing? What is your general tendency? What are you trying to protect in your fight or flight response? What does meekness say to those who would fight? For those who would flee? How do you see meekness as a lens through which to see not just the ends but the means as well? When has the meekness of another unnerved you? What is your context where you are challenged to maintain your convictions? How would embodying meekness guide you to hold fast to your convictions? What are you cultivating in your habits to know God better and understand what your next step is as a follower of Christ? What does it mean that the earth owns us?
Faith Prepares
November 29, 2015 • Jeff Keuss
What do you do to prepare for Christmas? How do you relate to power? How do you use power to control the chaos around you? How do you use power to be acknowledged or to gain attention? When have you seen power enforced through violence What would you say is the purpose of power? Who are the prophets in your life? When have they spoken truth to you that you did to want to hear? Have there been times when you felt compelled to speak truth that may be unpopular? How did you respond? When have you had to choose between listening to prophecy and maintaining power? When have you experienced repentance? Are there spaces in your life now where you need to do something in order to prepare your heart for Christ to enter in? Are there dark places in your context that you can cast the light of Christ? What would the light be like in intensity? A beacon? The warm glow of lantern?
Imitation Game
July 12, 2015 • Jeff Keuss
How does tradition guide and shape who you are as a follower of Christ? When have you seen tradition to be an ineffective guide for followers of Christ? Who do you have in your life that you want to imitate? What makes them worthy of imitation? What practices do you have that helps us to be imitators of Christ? In what ways are you distracted in worship by things around you? What can you do to remove the distraction? Can you think of ways that your behavior may distract others from worship of and/or following Christ ? What can you do to remove this distraction ? How does your perspective isolate you from friendship with those of the opposite sex? How might this harm the body of Christ? What is distracting you from being an imitator of Christ right now?
How Can I Be Born Again?
October 19, 2014 • Jeff Keuss
How important is the date when you gave your life to Christ to your faith journey? What evidence is there in your life now that demonstrates the signs of life in your relationship with Christ? What keeps you from moving fully into the life of new birth in Christ? When have you done something "at night" to be hidden from your friends? How easy is it for you to see Jesus as Rabbi, one who has the authority to teach you truth? What else do you rely on for truth? What new truths have you heard along your journey that have transformed your understanding of Jesus? When are you most aware of God's presence in your life? What signs of life do you see in your life that confirms your new birth? In what areas of your life do you need to more deeply understand what the rule of Christ covers? How are you pursuing the depth of Christ's presence? Where are you in living into the life of your new birth? What can you do to live more fully into your life in Christ?