The Wrestler

Attention Funnel: Greatest Fights

• What would you say some of the greatest fights in history have been? Real or fictional?
• We have been doing this series called Strange Encounters… where we look at some of the interesting encounters people had with God in the Old Testament.
• Tonight, we look at an encounter where God shows up and literally has a wrestling match with someone.
  • Read Genesis 32:30 – This is the end of the encounter, but I just want you to see it to know that I’m not making up that Jacob encounters God in this story… because it’s all a little bit weird.
• I want to look at this encounter bit by bit to see what we can learn about what it means for us to know God and encounter him.

Main Points:

• We encounter God in our weakness.
• God wants to change us more than our circumstances.
• It’s in submission to God that we win. 
• God becomes weak so that we can encounter him.

Dead Men Walking

Attention Funnel: Pet Peeves – Things that Make You Irrationally Angry

 Introduction:

• There are certain passages in the Old Testament that people may point to in order to show a problem with God.
• They are passages where we encounter God’s anger. On the surface, it might seem like God gets irrationally angry and does horrible things.
• I want to take a look at a couple of these encounters tonight to see if that’s true, or to see if there’s something else they might be teaching us.

Big Idea: We don’t appreciate God’s grace until we appreciate His anger.

Main Points:

• God’s anger is aimed at sin.
• We assume God’s grace is ordinary.
•  Jesus gets what we deserve, and we get what we don’t deserve.

How Could a Loving God Send Someone to Hell?

Attention Funnel: What Things Look Like Under a Microscope

Series Introduction:

• When you put something under the microscope, you take a closer look at it in order to better understand it.
• That’s what I want to do in this series. I want to take a closer look at some of the common questions/objections to the Christian faith in order to see if there is something wrong with what we believe.
• I want to do this for two reasons…
  • 1) I want to encourage you to ask questions about what Christianity says is true.
  • 2) And I want you to be better equipped to engage and reach those around you who don’t believe in the gospel.

 Lesson Introduction:

• What is the worst punishment you’ve received?
  • Dad who were jean shorts all around town in response to his daughter wearing clothes her mom and dad didn’t approve of.
  • Dad who shoots daughters computer in response to something she posted online.
  • The second one is clearly an over-reaction. It’s giving a punishment that seems so far over the top that it’s ridiculous.
• I wonder if when we think about Hell, we picture God in this way? As the out of control Dad whose punishment seems harsh and unfair.
• The question I want to look at tonight is: “How could a loving God send someone to hell?”
• It’s a very serious and very good question to ask.
• Especially if we may not personally be a Christian or if some of the people that we know and love are not Christians.
• And my initial response in the form of a Big idea might shock you, but stick with me and I hope you’ll see why I believe the following statement is true.

Big Idea: Hell magnifies God’s love.

• In other words, hell actually helps us to see, understand, and appreciate the depths of God’s love for us.

Main Points:

• Behind every question is a set of beliefs.
• A loving God is a God who judges.
• Hell is life apart from God.
• Hell should bring joy to our heart and urgency to our hands.

Women Remade

 

Introduction:

• Refresh: Over the past month we have been doing a series on gender – what it means to be a man or woman.
• Two weeks ago, we started talking about women – What did we say about women? –Women encourage, nurture, and provide strength.
• As we did with men, I want to talk about hurdles that women face.
• Perhaps one of the biggest struggles/hurdles that women face is that they are told that they are only as good as their physical appearance.
• Tonight, I want to look at this hurdle, show some of the issues it causes, talk about how God remakes women.

Big Idea: Find your value in what God says about you.

Passage: Mark 5:24-34; James 4:1-2; 2 Corinthians 5:17

 Main Points:

• Sin leaves women covered in shame.
• Comparison and perfectionism become ways of dealing with shame.
• Only Jesus deals permanently with our shame.

Gender Dysphoria

Introduction:

• If someone walked through our doors tonight who was obviously transgender, how would you respond?
  • Whisper to someone else, avoid them, go up and tell them they are living in sin, make a joke to friends about them, welcome them in, ask them their name, treat them as any other human being?
• I wish I could sit down and have a conversation with each of you to get a feeling of where you’re at on this issue… but my guess is that I’m talking to 3 or 4 groups of people tonight when it comes to this issue.
  • 1) “It’s all good!”
  • 2) “Eww, yuck!”
  • 3) “It’s personal.”
  • 4) “I want to respond well, but I don’t know how to.”
• In many ways, this lesson is meant more for the last 3 groups then it is for the first.
  • Because In case you haven’t picked up from the previous lessons in this series… I believe the Bible teaches that the gender we are born with is the gender we are to live according to, and so to live in opposition to that gender is to live in opposition to God’s good design and therefore live in sin.
  • Just as I believe to act self-righteously, show favoritism, gossip, and slander someone else are all to live in opposition to God’s good design and therefore sinful.
• My goal in this lesson is to increase compassion in us for those who may struggle with their gender and to offer hope to you if you are personally struggling with your gender.
• Before we get started, let me define a couple terms for you.
• Gender Dysphoria – “A person who experiences discomfort or distress because there is a mis-match between their sex assigned at birth and their gender identity. This is also the clinical diagnosis for someone who doesn’t feel comfortable with the gender they were assigned at birth.”
• Transgender – “An umbrella term to describe people whose gender is not the same as, or does not sit comfortably with, the sex they were assigned at birth.”
  • A transgender man is a biological woman who identifies as a man.
  • A transgender woman is a biological man who identifies as a woman.
• Clarify the difference – I don’t believe the person who struggles with gender dysphoria but is not openly identifying and living as the opposite gender is living in sin. But I do believe the person who openly identifies as transgender and is living as the opposite gender is living in sin.
  • Here’s another example: For me to be frustrated with my wife is not necessarily a sin… for me to act on that frustration by giving her the silent treatment, yelling at her, or trying to put her down is a sin.
• However, I would say that gender dysphoria is a result of sin tainting this world. It is a form of brokenness that people may experience as a result of sin effecting our hearts, our minds, and our bodies.

Big Idea: Christians live as broken people that are being transformed by Jesus.

 Main Points:

• Everybody is broken.
• Everybody believes some gospel.
• Everybody still wrestles with sin.
• One day, Jesus will fully restore everybody.

The Death and Life of Manhood

Attention Funnel: Hurdle Fails

Introduction:

• Refresh from last week – How did we define what it means to be a man?
  • Men Lead, provide, and protect.
  • Jesus is the model man.
  • Men gladly sacrifice for others.
• I hope you saw that picture and got excited about it. Guys I hope it gave you something you want to pursue. And Ladies, I hope it gave you something to encourage and expect in men.
• But I also wonder if some of you weren’t sitting there thinking, “That’s great, but where are all these men at?” OR “That’s great, but why is it so difficult and hard to be that type of man?”
• Genesis 3 provides the answer… it tells us that when sin enters the world, it directly effects everything… including manhood.
• As a result of sin, men face certain hurdles that get in the way of being the type of man we described last week.
• Tonight, I want to talk about what some of those hurdles might be and how God works to restore men and enable them to overcome those hurdles.

Big Idea: Guys face unique hurdles in their effort to live as godly men.

Passage: Ephesians 2:1-10; Genesis 3

Main Points:

• Sin works to kill manhood.
• God works to restore manhood.
• Men work to become more like Jesus.

Act Like A Man

Attention Funnel: Word Association – Fast Food, Genius, Huge, Ocean, Love, Failure, Basketball, Man (Videos of male stereotypes)

Introduction:

• Refresh Last Week – 1) EVERY Human has equal dignity and value. 2) Men and women have a specific role to play. 3)God’s design is what’s best for us. 4) Jesus came to restore broken people.
• Tonight, and next week we are going to talk about men… and no ladies this doesn’t just mean that you can tune out. I’ll tell you why in a second.
• What do you think about when you think about what it means to be a man?
  • What picture comes into your mind when you think about what a man is? What attributes come into mind when you think about what it means to be a man?
• Guys – How you define what it means to be a man will shape what you pursue after.
  • What is your idea of a vacation? There’s two types of vacationers… The first type is the sit, eat, and just relax type. In other words, consume over 5,000 calories and don’t take more than 10 steps each day. The second type is the always has to be doing something type. Waking up at 5:00 in the morning to run, then playing a game of risk, going jet skiing, and catching a lobster all before 10:00am.
  • How you define a vacation will affect what you pursue on your vacation… peace and quiet or activity and experiences.
• Girls – How you define what it means to be a man will shape what you expect from men and encourage in them.

Big Idea: How we define what it means to be a man will shape what guys pursue and what girls expect.

Passages: Genesis 2; Romans 5; Ephesians 5

Main Points

• Men are given a unique responsibility… to lead, to provide, and to protect.
• Jesus is the model man.
• Being a man is all about gladly sacrificing for others