Sunday Rewind | 1.31.2016
MUSIC & SCRIPTURE
Be Lifted High (John 3:30) –Nothing is Wasted by Elevation Worship
How Great Thou Art (Psalm 145:3) – Hymns Ancient & Modern by Charlie Hall (Passion)
Great Things (Worth It All) (Galatians 6:14) –Wake Up the Wonder by Elevation Worship
Cornerstone (Psalm 18:2) – Cornerstone by Hillsong Worship
God Is Able (Ephesians 3:20-21) – God is Able by Hillsong Worship
TEACHING: Redemption
Even in the most difficult of times, God is doing wondrous works of redemption. “Our bad things turn out for good. Our good things can never be lost. And the best things are yet to come.”
CLICK HERE FOR THE SERMON AUDIO & VIDEO
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS FOR SHEPHERD GROUPS
- What was one thing you found particularly interesting, insightful, helpful or difficult to understand from this sermon?
- What does it mean to “redeem” something? What does it mean that God is “a God of redemption”?
- Read and discuss Psalm 107. What does this tell us about redemption? How is redemption tied to the love of God?
- What examples of God’s redeeming hand do you see in Scripture?
- Tell your story – how did God redeem you to salvation? What are some difficult situations in your life He has redeemed after you put your faith in Christ?
- Discuss this quote by Jonathan Edwards: “Our bad things turn out for good. Our good things can never be lost. And the best things are yet to come.” How does this eternal perspective challenge or encourage you in this season of life?
- How does the gospel of Jesus show us the redemptive hand of God? What hope does the gospel give you when you walk through trials, suffering and difficulty?
- Spend some time in prayer thanking God for redeeming you in Jesus Christ. Pray for our church in a season of difficulty, that we would trust God’s redeeming hand in the process. Pray for situations in your life that you long to see redeemed by the Lord.
Family Quest: The Hope – Jesus Calling
“I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” – John 10:10
Throughout the ages since Jesus walked the earth, many non-believers have tried to dismiss Jesus by saying such things as, “He was a teacher,” or “He was a powerful prophet.” Their goal in making these statements is usually to deny the central claim of Christianity, namely that Jesus is God. But we shouldn’t shy away from these statements because they are in fact true. Jesus was a great teacher. The greatest teacher ever. A typical pastor preaches for 40 minutes today, but Jesus’ most famous sermon on the mount takes only about 15 minutes from beginning to end and is so profound that books have been written just about these few verses. Jesus wasn’t just a lecturer either. He was a “walk-along-the-way” teacher, a disciple-maker.
“And walking by the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon who was called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. And He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” And they immediately left the nets, and followed Him.”
It has often been said that you aren’t really a leader unless people are following you, and you aren’t really a teacher unless your students are learning. Jesus called and the disciples followed. As master teacher and disciple maker, Jesus would transform these simple men into men of spiritual power who would turn the world upside down.
BIG IDEA: Jesus is a great teacher.
CLICK HERE TO WATCH THIS WEEK’S VIDEO
MEDITATING ON THE WORD:
Matthew 4:18-22
Luke 5:1-11
Acts 4:13
Matthew 5-7
SECTION VERSES:
“Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.’” – John 14:6-7
LESSON VERSE:
“I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” – John 10:10
PRAYER:
Thank God for what He teaches us about ourselves, Himself, and how we can be with Him forever and live for Him.
DISCUSSION STARTERS:
- What is a disciple?
- How did Jesus teach? (Deut. 11:19)
- What did Jesus teach?
- Why did Jesus call the disciples?
LIVE IT OUT!
- Read the greatest commands (Mark 12:30-31)
- Come up with some ways you can obey them and write them down.
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ABOUT FAMILY QUEST: At Reston Bible Church, we firmly believe that parents are a child’s first and most important spiritual leader. In order to support you that mission, we have created a parent devotional and some discussion starters to go along with each lesson your grade school age children are learning at Quest on Sundays. Our hope and prayer is that this material will help you to engage with your children around the topics they are learning on Sunday mornings, answer their questions, go deeper with them, and find real, day-to-day applications. We are honored to be able to partner with you in the critical task of sharing Christ with the next generation.
Services Cancelled | Sunday, January 24
I wanted to let you know that all services and activities for tomorrow (Sunday, January 24, 2016) have been cancelled, including evening activities such as Awana, FPU and the Sr. High Dodgeball Tournament.
Since you’re snowed in this weekend, here are some ideas to take advantage of this time to draw close to the Lord, especially tomorrow since we cannot worship corporately.
- Search our sermon archives and listen to one of your favorite messages from the past, or perhaps one you haven’t heard.
- Explore the 10,000+ inspirational and educational videos available from rightnow.org. You can instantly stream biblical teaching from over 150 leading Christian publishers and ministries. Their extensive library has Bible studies, conference sessions and a huge array of kid’s videos including Veggie Tales, 3-2-1 Penguins, Adventures in Odyssey and many others. For more information, please click here. If you don’t currently have a login for this incredible resource, request one here. Operators (Jason VanDorsten) are standing by to take your request!
Finally, as you can imagine, your church still incurs operational expenses regardless of the weather. If you are not already giving online, why not take this opportunity to see how easy it is to support the ministries of RBC. You can give from within myRBC if you’re already logged in, or simply click here to be taken to our secure online giving page.
That’s all for now. Stay safe and warm and drive carefully when you do venture out. Have a blessed weekend.
Dale Peak
Administrator
Sunday Rewind | 1.17.16
MUSIC & SCRIPTURE
Awesome Is The Lord Most High (Psalm 47:1-2) – See The Morning by Chris Tomlin
Alive in Us (Ephesians 2:4-5) – God is Able by Hillsong Live
Blessed Be Your Name (Job 1:21) – The Songs of Matt Redman (vol. 1) by Matt Redman
Give Me Faith (Psalm 73:25-26) – Nothing Is Wasted byElevation Worship
Lord I Need You (Hebrews 4:16) – All The People Said Amen by Matt Maher
TEACHING
Due to the sensitive nature of yesterday’s sermon, we are not posting Sunday’s sermon online.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS FOR SHEPHERD GROUPS
- What scriptures can you think of that deal with the topics of sin, confession, forgiveness, repentance and restoration? What warnings and/or admonishments does scripture provide on each of these topics?
- What are the distinctions between forgiveness, repentance and restoration?
- Read and discuss Hebrews 3:12-13. How is sin deceitful? What are some practical ways can you exhort or encourage each other in your small group?
- Share a time when you forgave someone. What happened? Why did you forgive them?
- Share a time when you received forgiveness. What happened? Why did they forgiven you?
- How does the gospel give us the power to repent of our own sin and forgive others of theirs? How does the gospel give us a lens through which to properly view sin, repentance and restoration?
- What dark area of your life needs to be brought out into the light?
- Is there someone in your life now to whom you need to extend forgiveness? Is there someone from whom you need to ask for forgiveness? Spend some time in prayer with your small group and ask them to hold you accountable for this.
Sunday Rewind | 01.03.2016
VIDEO ANNOUNCEMENTS
During Sunday worship services, we want to spend less time making announcements and more time worshiping. To help facilitate that, we show a brief video announcement segment 4-5 minutes before each service begins. Grab an early seat just before your service begins so you can take advantage of these pre-service announcements. We’ll also post them here on the Sunday Rewind each week.
MUSIC & SCRIPTURE
Only King Forever (1 Timothy 1:17) – Only King Forever by Elevation Worship
Rock of Ages (Deuteronomy 32:3-4) – Death of Death by Charlie Hall
Your Great Name (Philippians 2:10-11) – Love Revolution by Natalie Grant
Great Things (Worth It All) (Galatians 6:14) –Wake Up the Wonder by Elevation Worship
Unstoppable God (Luke 1:37) – Wake up the Wonder by Elevation Worship
TEACHING: Read Your Bible
The Bible is a book of revelation, showing us what God wants us to know that we could otherwise not know. Read your Bible.
CLICK HERE FOR THE SERMON AUDIO & VIDEO
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS FOR SHEPHERD GROUPS
- What was one thing you found particularly interesting, insightful, helpful or difficult to understand from this sermon?
- Read and discuss Psalm 1 and 1 Corinthians 2:6-16. What do these verses tell us about revelation? What do they tell us about the Word of God? What are the general implications of these verses? What are the personal implications for your life?
- What does it mean to meditate on the Word of God? How does that give us life?
- What are some things the Bible says about itself?
- As we read, study, memorize and mediate on the Scriptures, the following sequence is often played out: Information > Insight > Guidance > Comfort. Have you seen this in your own life? What examples can you give?
- What is the significance of Jesus being the living Word of God (John 1)?
- What excuses do you have for not being in the Word of God regularly? How can your Shepherd Group help hold you accountable to be faithful in reading, studying, memorizing and mediating upon the Scriptures? Spend some time in prayer for this while thanking God for the wisdom of His Word.
Family Quest: The Hope – Promised One, Part 2
“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are — yet he did not sin.” – Hebrews 4:15
The practice of baptism as observed in this lesson had its roots in the washings that God instructed the Hebrew people to do for the purpose of purification (Leviticus 16:26, Leviticus 28, Leviticus 22:6, Numbers 19:7 and Numbers 19). Jesus, however, did not need to be purified. Perhaps this is why John, who knew Jesus from childhood, tried to prevent Jesus from being baptized and said to Him, “I have need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?” (Matthew 3:14).
So if purification was unnecessary, what was the purpose of this baptism in the life of Jesus?
Most theologians agree that at least three things were accomplished by this event: identification, anointing and confirmation. In regard to identification, many believe that Jesus, the One who came not to abolish the Law but to fulfill it (Matthew 5:17), was identifying with John’s call to righteousness – to live according to the ways of God. Some, however, see yet another identification taking place in this event.
In baptism, Jesus was not only identifying with God in regard to His righteousness, He was identifying with you and me in our need for righteousness. Jesus came to offer Himself as our substitute in fulfilling the righteous requirements of God. This substitution began with His baptism and was completed at the cross.
The anointing in this event comes as the Spirit descends upon Jesus as a dove (Matthew 3:16). An anointing is an empowering from God to accomplish a specific mission. Jesus is about to step into three years of public ministry, culminating in an unparalleled act of suffering and sacrifice in order to conquer Satan, sin, and death. Jesus was anointed for this very purpose.
– Read more in The HOPE Project online study guide
Let’s help the children see this week how Jesus came to win the battle against Satan, sin, and death that Adam had lost.
BIG IDEA: Jesus fulfilled the whole law for us.
CLICK HERE TO WATCH THIS WEEK’S VIDEO
MEDITATING ON THE WORD:
Malachi 3:1
Matthew 3:1-4:11
1 Peter 2:22
Hebrews 7:26
SECTION VERSES:
“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are — yet he did not sin.” – Hebrews 4:15
LESSON VERSE:
“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” – Isaiah 9:6
PRAYER:
Thank God that he laid down his glory, his power, and his life to become one of us, and fulfill the law for us.
DISCUSSION STARTERS:
- What did John call Jesus?
- Why did he call Jesus that?
- Why was Jesus baptized?
- Why did Jesus go to the desert?
- Define “tempt.”
LIVE IT OUT!
- Pray together
- Read Matthew 3 – 4:11
- Think of someone in your neighborhood you can bless this week and do it in Jesus’ name!
– – –
ABOUT FAMILY QUEST: At Reston Bible Church, we firmly believe that parents are a child’s first and most important spiritual leader. In order to support you that mission, we have created a parent devotional and some discussion starters to go along with each lesson your grade school age children are learning at Quest on Sundays. Our hope and prayer is that this material will help you to engage with your children around the topics they are learning on Sunday mornings, answer their questions, go deeper with them, and find real, day-to-day applications. We are honored to be able to partner with you in the critical task of sharing Christ with the next generation.
Sing Ye Noel – Sharing the Gospel in Song
This past Sunday evening a group of more than 60 adults and children from our congregation came together to bless the neighborhood behind the church with a gift of Christmas carols.
Before heading out we stopped for a moment and prayed together, “Lord, we thank you that for Jesus and the good news of His coming. We thank you that we can sing of the joy we have in Him. We ask that you would use our simple gift of song tonight to touch someone who needs to hear from you. Amen.” At that we started off. How could we have known that our prayer would be answered at the very first house at which we sang. We received the following email that very same evening from that neighbor.
———————
To you carolers at Reston Bible:
Y’all came caroling through the Cascades Park neighborhood tonight. You rang my doorbell, and I opened the garage door and came and sang with you. I’m a believer, also, and your caroling was a warm reminder of Christmas. Thank you for coming! I thought you’d be encouraged by this:
Your caroling was a catalyst to me sharing my testimony with my roommate. I’ve been a believer for years, and lived with this guy for years. But I’ve always been hesitant to talk about Christ with him. When you came caroling, I went upstairs, joyful in the Spirit, and spent the next two hours talking with him about my testimony, which I hope will be the first of many conversations.
Thank you for spreading Christ’s love and message through song. You have effects that you’re not aware of, and I want to give you a glimpse of one of those effects while at the same time saying, “Thank you!” Glory to Christ the King!”
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May the Lord use you as an instrument of His love this Christmas and always!
A Note from Dr. Tim Kimmel
We just can’t wait to have Dr. Tim Kimmel at our RBC Marriage Conference next month! Here is a note from Dr. Kimmel that tells you a little more about the time we’ll spend together.
Don’t forget to register before Christmas to save an extra $10!
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Hi RBC Couples!
I’m so excited to be with you for the Grace Filled Marriage event at the end of January! I can’t wait to tell you about the secret ingredient that can radically improve your marriage. I’ll teach you how to super-charge your communication, conflict resolution, spiritual connection and sex life with the pivotal quality that so many loving marriages lack…GRACE!
This Christmas, give your spouse and family a gift that will echo long into the future! Investing in your marriage is a gift to your spouse and yourself, but don’t forget that having a lasting, healthy marriage is the ultimate gift to your kids and grandkids. So much of their future success, happiness, relationships and spiritual journey rises or falls on the legacy your marriage leaves for them. A grace-filled marriage will change yourworld and theirs for good!
Hope to see you there!
Tim
Family Quest: The Hope – Promised One, Part 1
“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” – Isaiah 9:6
The events associated with the birth of Jesus fulfilled numerous Old Testament prophecies given centuries before the events they described. Let’s take a look at some of these ancient proclamations.
“Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.” (Matthew 1:23) In reference to the birth of Jesus, Matthew cited a specific prophecy from Isaiah made more than 700 years earlier.
“Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.” (Isaiah 7:14) Just as foretold, the virgin (Mary) indeed did conceive (Matthew 1:21) and bore a Son who is called Immanuel. This amazing event demonstrates God’s infinite knowledge and power. He is capable of foretelling the future with perfect precision, and He has the power to bring His prophecies to pass, even if that means a virgin would need to conceive and bear a Son.
Just as foretold, Bethlehem is the birthplace of the Christ: “But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, Are not the least among the rulers of Judah; For out of you shall come a Ruler who will shepherd My people Israel.” (Matthew 2:6; cf. Micah 5:2; John 7:42)
Most importantly, God’s chosen Messiah, in order to fulfill the roles of perfect Prophet, perfect High Priest, and perfect King, could only be God himself in sinless human flesh. “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14)
Let’s point the children to God’s power and perfection in bringing his plan to pass just as the scriptures foretold, and how only He could fulfill all expectations of the coming Messiah.
BIG IDEA: The promised deliverer was God himself.
CLICK HERE TO WATCH THIS WEEK’S VIDEO
MEDITATING ON THE WORD:
Matthew 1:18-25
Matthew 2
Luke 1-2
SECTION VERSES:
“I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” – Genesis 12:3
LESSON VERSE:
“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” – Isaiah 9:6
PRAYER:
Thank God for his Word and for sending Jesus to fulfill all of His promises.
DISCUSSION STARTERS:
- What does the name Yeshua mean?
- What is prophecy?
- How did Jesus’ birth fulfill prophecy?
- Why did the deliverer have to be without sin?
LIVE IT OUT!
- Invite a friend to Quest
- Begin setting aside an offering for the Missionary of the year.
- Think of someone you can bless and do it!
– – –
ABOUT FAMILY QUEST: At Reston Bible Church, we firmly believe that parents are a child’s first and most important spiritual leader. In order to support you that mission, we have created a parent devotional and some discussion starters to go along with each lesson your grade school age children are learning at Quest on Sundays. Our hope and prayer is that this material will help you to engage with your children around the topics they are learning on Sunday mornings, answer their questions, go deeper with them, and find real, day-to-day applications. We are honored to be able to partner with you in the critical task of sharing Christ with the next generation.
RBC Marriage Conference – Grace-Filled Marriage with Dr. Tim Kimmel
If you are married or engaged, we have a special event you don’t want to miss!
Maybe you’d like to turn your good marriage into a great marriage. Maybe you’re in a struggling marriage and need help and hope. Maybe you’re about to begin the journey of marriage and desire to set out in the right direction.
If so, come and learn how to make love work, by adding the secret-sauce that many marriages are missing…GRACE! Bestselling author and speaker, Dr. Tim Kimmel, will be here for Reston Bible Church’s annual Marriage Conference on January 22 and 23 to host Grace Filled Marriage…Making Love that Lasts!
Packed full of fun and insight, Dr. Kimmel will encourage us to see our spouses through fresh eyes, ignite our intimacy, fight fair and bring the best out of each other. Don’t miss this opportunity to improve your marriage as we begin the new year!
Bridget and I would like to invite you to join us at this great upcoming marriage event! We’d also like to encourage you to take the opportunity to stay overnight at the beautiful Hilton Hilton DoubleTree at our discounted rate. You can choose to stay in-between the Friday night and Saturday morning conference sessions or for the entire weekend. It’s a great opportunity to disconnect and relax without the travel. We hope to see you there!
The cost of the Marriage Conference is $45 per couple. Register here by Christmas Day to receive a $10 discount. Hotel accommodations for one or both nights can be made through this Conference Registration as well.