Week of October 25, 2020

This Week’s Passage: Psalm 119:113-120
 
Use this daily guide to help you internalize this week’s passage & message!
 
Sunday [KNOW]:
In a journal, reflect on today’s sermon by finishing any or all of the following:
I never knew…
I was reminded…
A question I still have…
I was challenged…
I was convicted…
A truth I could share is…
 
Monday [KNOW>BE]
Spend some time today doing the following:
  1. Select a portion of this week’s sermon passage to memorize this week.
  2. Write your selected portion and read it to yourself throughout the day today.
 
Tuesday [Be]:
In a journal, spend some time meditating and writing about the following:
  1. Read the sermon passage again.
  2. Write a prayer of response, guided by the sermon passage. (May include adoration, confession/repentance, thanksgiving, petition, etc.).
  3. Write your selected portion of the Scripture several times to aid in memorization.

Wednesday [BE>DO]:

Think about this week’s questions for group discussion.

  1. What are some the most influential aspects of our culture that are prone to draw us into doublemindedness? In what ways should we guard against this?
  2. Which point from the sermon concerning the outcomes of singlemindedness resonated most in your own heart and why?
  3. How does a lack of a fear of God result in a lack of clarity in the way we both perceive and interact in our world? What is the connection between the two?

Thursday [DO]:

In a journal, spend some time considering the following:
  1. What insights have you had while internalizing this week’s passage?
  2. How specifically will you seek to apply its truths in your home/workplace/life in general?

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Info for Sunday Night (10/25/20)

Brett Carver will be joining us tonight for our Student Worship time. We have committed to help run the elementary club coming up on Saturday, November 14. That will take place on that day from 10am to 3pm. He will be sharing about that day and how he would like for us to serve. It will be a great challenge and time of equipping, regardless of whether students will be able to help that day or not. But I will also be getting commitments from those who can tonight. So please discuss whether or not your student(s) can commit tonight prior to coming. Parents are invited to come volunteer, too! Tonight, EVERYONE will share in planning some aspects of that day.
 
After Brett shares we will have a longer small group time. Since we will not have a message, small groups will spend some time working through a bookmark that I’ve given out walking through 6 elements that go into answering the question “How is your soul?”
 
I’ll send out a follow up tonight to remind you to walk through those 6 elements with them and follow up on their discussion throughout the coming week!

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Week of October 18, 2020

This Week’s Passage: Psalm 119:105-112
 
Use this daily guide to help you internalize this week’s passage & message!
 
Sunday [KNOW]:
In a journal, reflect on today’s sermon by finishing any or all of the following:
I never knew…
I was reminded…
A question I still have…
I was challenged…
I was convicted…
A truth I could share is…
 
Monday [KNOW>BE]
Spend some time today doing the following:
  1. Select a portion of this week’s sermon passage to memorize this week.
  2. Write your selected portion and read it to yourself throughout the day today.
 
Tuesday [Be]:
In a journal, spend some time meditating and writing about the following:
  1. Read the sermon passage again.
  2. Write a prayer of response, guided by the sermon passage. (May include adoration, confession/repentance, thanksgiving, petition, etc.).
  3. Write your selected portion of the Scripture several times to aid in memorization.

Wednesday [BE>DO]:

Think about this week’s questions for group discussion.

  1. How have you experienced internal darkness this week, as a sinful human being?
  2. How have you experienced external darkness this week, living in a fallen world?
  3. What does the Light of the World have to say about that darkness in his Word? Be specific in how Scripture applies to your situations.

Thursday [DO]:

In a journal, spend some time considering the following:
  1. What insights have you had while internalizing this week’s passage?
  2. How specifically will you seek to apply its truths in your home/workplace/life in general?

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Parent Follow Up (10/18/20)

Kelli Recicar led our time of prayer tonight. We focused on praying for Rachel, but she did an excellent job of helping the students understand what it looks like to prayer Kingdom prayers. She borrowed from a definition offered by Chris Schofield that reminds us that when praying Kingdom prayers, we are praying that God would be glorified as we pray in accordance with his will and purposes. I want to encourage you to follow up with your students this week about this. Ask them to define what it looks like to pray Kingdom prayers. How do we often pray? Is that in accordance with the Kingdom?
 
Tonight in our message and in our small groups we focused we continued our series entitled “Awake and Aware” through portions of 1 Peter. Building our our look at our new identity from 2 weeks ago, tonight we went on in 2:9b-12 to see what Peter exhorts us to do out of that new identity: “…that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” Ask your students to recap for you what we learned as we explored the text together. Here are some questions for reflection that you can use this week for further conversations as well. As always, I love you and am praying for your families this week!
 

*In your own evaluation, what would prevent you or hinder you from being an effective spokesperson for the Kingdom?

*What is your life most communicating to those around you about what is truly important and to be treasured?

*Have you truly experienced this element of testimony by Peter, can you give testimony of what it is to be transferred from the domain of darkness to the Kingdom of Jesus?

*What in your life proclaims to those with whom you spend the most time the excellency of Jesus? What would those who watch your life most closely know about Jesus from watching your life?

*How are you currently seek to battle against sin? How is that battle going?

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Week of October 11, 2020

This Week’s Passage: Psalm 98-104
 
Use this daily guide to help you internalize this week’s passage & message!
 
Sunday [KNOW]:
In a journal, reflect on today’s sermon by finishing any or all of the following:
I never knew…
I was reminded…
A question I still have…
I was challenged…
I was convicted…
A truth I could share is…
 
Monday [KNOW>BE]
Spend some time today doing the following:
  1. Select a portion of this week’s sermon passage to memorize this week.
  2. Write your selected portion and read it to yourself throughout the day today.
 
Tuesday [Be]:
In a journal, spend some time meditating and writing about the following:
  1. Read the sermon passage again.
  2. Write a prayer of response, guided by the sermon passage. (May include adoration, confession/repentance, thanksgiving, petition, etc.).
  3. Write your selected portion of the Scripture several times to aid in memorization.

Wednesday [BE>DO]:

Think about this week’s questions for group discussion.

  1. How does Gerald’s illustration of developing the same tastes as our heavenly Father help you better understand what wisdom is?
  2. How have you seen wisdom shaped in your own life through the years? What have been the factors, the process?
  3. Why is a developed taste for God’s Word so important to our seeking wisdom through it? How do we go about developing that taste? How have you seen that taste developed in your heart recently?

Thursday [DO]:

In a journal, spend some time considering the following:
  1. What insights have you had while internalizing this week’s passage?
  2. How specifically will you seek to apply its truths in your home/workplace/life in general?

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Opportunities for Students to Serve!

Hey everybody! First, I want you to know just how much I missed all of you last night! I hated that we had to cancel, but I certainly agreed with the rest of our elders that that was a part of the response we needed to have to one of our students testing positive. I am very much looking forward to picking back up next Sunday night!
 
I wanted to present some areas of need within our Body that I think could be addressed by some of you! One of the things that I desire to see happen more and more is our students plugging in to serve in different areas of the whole Body at Westwood. Over just this past week I have thought of several such areas. I am presenting those to you here and asking you to prayerfully consider volunteering. Of course, feel free to reach out to me with any questions you may have, or if you feel that one of these areas corresponds to your spiritual gifts and that God is leading you to jump in. Here are the areas I’d like you to consider:
 
Westwood’s Livestream: We just purchased a new computer for the sound booth that is completely dedicated to our weekly livestream. Matthew and I have finally reached a good level of confidence in our setup for that stream (I know, Matthew, I probably shouldn’t have said it! – Knock on wood!). Zach Dodson jumped on board several weeks back, and has actually been running it most Sunday mornings (Great job, Zach!). So we are at a place where we would love to train 2-3 more folks on how to do that. This would allow more of a rotation. You don’t have to have a very high level of computer knowledge to do this, but a little bit at least would be good. So if you enjoy that sort of thing and would love to learn more, let me know!
 
NOTE: You would need to be able to come to church on your Sundays to serve by 8am. Rehearsing the lyrics with the praise team while they practice is vital to this area of service.
 
FLC Set Up: Due to Covid, we are having to offer fewer adult classes and in bigger spaces. Because we lack an abundance of such spaces we are going to need to host a Sunday School class in our FLC. This means that the FLC will need to be set up each week for the class that is meeting there. The plan is for our ladies’ Sunday School class to meet there, beginning this Sunday (10/18). I’d love for a team of 2-3 people to commit to arriving at Westwood by 9:30 or shortly after to set this space up for that class. This would be a weekly commitment that would last as long as we have a class meeting in that space. At this time it appears that this set up would include several round tables and around 20-25 chairs. If you’d be willing to serve this class in this way, let me know!
 
Sunday Morning Greeters: Before COVID, Ben Wilson had been serving in the area of greeting folks each Sunday morning as they arrived at Westwood. I know that he desires to pick that back up when we get back to our normal schedule. But I also think that he would welcome some help with that! He also serves on the praise team, so it is difficult for him to be out in the Welcome Center in time to catch folks that are arriving. I think some of you guys and gals would do a WONDERFUL job in this area of service! Again, I would like to have enough folks willing to be able to schedule some sort of rotation so no one would have this responsibility every week. So I’d love for many of you to consider it! There is a bit of learning curve so that we can sufficiently anticipate and meet the needs of everyone who walks through our doors, and especially any guests that we have. I would want to walk you through some of that, but I’m sure Ben would like the opportunity to do that as well. Here are some important things for you to consider, though, as you pray through this area of service:
 
1. You will need to be available at the church and in place to serve by about 8:45am. (I would love to have enough folks to be placed at multiple entrances!)
2. You will need to be willing to be flexible, especially in light of the ongoing Covid situation, with taking certain precautions. This includes a willingness to perhaps wear a face covering in the near term.
3. You will need to also be willing to perhaps sneak out of your own Sunday School class a little early, if necessary, to be back in place shortly after 10am.
 
If you are interesting in serving in any of these areas, or if you would like more information or have questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to me! I will also revisit this when we meet together again. I am praying for you as you read through this and consider serving! I love you all and hope you have a great week.

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