Breaking Ground:
What was a moment in time where you felt sure of yourself and the choices you had made?
Going Deeper:
This week is graduation Sunday at Element3, a time to recognize several life changes and the choices that got them there. From Kindergarten to 5th, 8th to 12th, or graduate degrees, life seems to be several numerous choices stacked up together. Sometimes, life seems easy, and the plans come together nicely.
There are other times, when life falls apart, the choices we make cause self or other destruction, and variables seem chaotic.
Biologically, we are programmed to remember the second set of circumstances, not necessarily the first.
Read Isaiah 30:21.
What does this verse imply with God’s providence, provision, and promise (thank for you for the compliment on the alliteration)?
How is the “will of God” modelled in the church? Is it a narrow path or a wide field of choices?
Consider the various characters of the Bible. Except for Jesus….do they generally follow a very narrow path of holiness, or model horrific sins to be later used by God in spectacular ways?
Now read Isaiah 30:22. This following verse shows that the only reason God reminds them of God’s presence is that they were worshipping idols. And to throw away this idols like a “menstrual cloth”. Why do you think Isaiah uses this very brash wording, and how might this reframe “God’s will” in the prior verse 21?
How might these two verses and concept refrain how God is moving and active in your own life?
Getting out of the hole:
Where and in what labels do you have this liminal thinking that binds you to a role that is “before and after”?
What reframing do you need to think about this sort of liminality?
What new ways can you think about graduation in specifics, especially the various seasons of graduation?
Additional Resources*
Centered Set Church by Mark D. Baker
Practicing the Way by John Mark Comer
TheBibleProject.com
Coming Up This Week:*
Join us on 5.24.26 for Pentecost!!!!