Lessons From The Ocean

Grace Chapel Wilsonville

Lessons From The Ocean

God always has a fresh and deeper truth He wants us to learn about Him.

September 24, 2023 • Jen McCourt • Ephesians 3:16–21, Psalm 27:1–5, Luke 10:38–42, Psalm 139:5–7, 1 Corinthians 2:6–13

The extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights!

If your heart is pure, it is impossible to miss God. He is just too big of a target.

Where can you aim and not come in contact with Him?

Where can you reach and not touch something that declares His existence?

Where can you look and not see the fingerprints of His majesty?

Look up, and discover His wonder in the stars.

Look down, and see His glory in a flower.

The mountains’ heights remind us He is our Rock of refuge.

The ocean’s roar declares His undeniable might.

The wind awakens our souls to His unseen presence as it whispers, “There is more.”

Discussion Questions:

1. How would you define your relationship with God right now? Casual? Committed? Intellectual? Frequent? Rare? Emergency only?

2. If you have a desire to go deeper with God - identify one way you could increase in that ongoing, unending revelation relationship. Pray and ask God to give you one way to grow deeper with Him, or ask a friend to come alongside and offer ideas!

3. If you don’t have a desire to go deeper, ask God to show you why. Are you too comfortable where you are and don’t want to mess things up? Are you afraid? Pray and ask God for the desire to go deeper, completely dependent on the Holy Spirit as your life line!

4. Read through Psalm 18, 138, 57, 109, 35, 37, 23, 40, 136, and 27 - consider how David viewed God even in the face of great opposition. How would you define your opposition? How does David explain the ways God wants to meet you there?

5. What are your expectations of Jesus?

6. Where/how do you best hear His voice?

7. How can you practice sitting at the feet of Jesus this week? Luke 10:38-42

8. Read through the following verses and ask God to highlight which identity statement He is speaking over you right now! John 15:15, 1 Thess 1:4, Eph 2:10, 1 Cor 6:19, Acts 1:8, John 1:12, Gal 3:26, Rom 5:8, John 8:36, 2 Cor 5:17

Prayer Prompt:

Holy Spirit, draw me deeper, deeper than I would normally consider. Make me brave. Help me trust you to hold me, sustain me, comfort me, and give me both courage and peace! Give me a desire for more of you - no matter the cost - trusting that you are a good God who will never leave or forsake me!

Jesus, help me to adjust my expectation of you. You are power; in you there is freedom. You died for healing and restoration. Help me to trust what You are doing rather than demand You do what I want. Open my eyes to see where you are! Open my ears to hear Your voice! Open my mind to receive your thoughts! Open my heart to receive Your love!

Father God - it says in Psalm 139, David says, ‘I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.’ May I have the confidence, the belief that I am fearfully and wonderfully made! May I walk in the identity You speak over me! Help me shed the names I’ve adopted from others or my broken thinking. Show me the lies about me that I’ve made agreements with, and break those off! Jesus died so I would walk in my new identity - not stay a slave to the grave He defeated! Help me to believe that I am chosen, that I am worthy, that I am Your child, that I am free, that I am greatly loved, that I am Your messenger, and that I am beautifully, fearfully, and wonderfully made! Amen.

Alignment

September 17, 2023 • Mike Tatlock • Matthew 7:24, 2 Peter 1:4, 2 Corinthians 5:17, John 6:39, Psalm 5:8

Alignment through practices often moves us from the omnipresence of God to the manifested presence of God. Changes in alignment can be a bit subtle at first. You may not notice that your steering response has been negatively affected until you have to make an emergency maneuver and find yourself with no control over what your vehicle is doing. Discussion Questions: 1. In what areas do I feel my life is out of alignment with God. What does that look like for you? 2. How do you sense God is revealing more of Himself to you? 3. When you think of the process of being refined and radiant, what areas of your life do you sense needing refinement? 4. In a posture of humility and surrender, what areas of your life do you want to turn to him for healing and wholeness? Prayer Prompt: O Lord, be the architect and builder of my life. Father, give me the grace to build on no other foundation but the foundation of Christ. I ask that you lovingly replace every faulty foundation in my life with the truth and wisdom of Jesus Christ. Help me through the power of your Spirit, put into practice your words and your ways. Amen.