The Genesis Project | Jacob Meets Grace | May 25-26, 2013 |
Growth Group Homework
For the week of May 26, 2013
This is our final week of the Spring Quarter. Along with an abbreviated study, you will take some time to reflect on your group experience and then have Communion together. You will also fill out Feedback Forms about your group experience and your plans for the fall. Growth Groups will take a summer break and resume the week of September 15. Thanks for being part of your Growth Group and have a great summer!
| If you'd like to continue in a summer study, NCU has several classes SCHEDULED. You can find a list of the classes offered on the back page of this homework. |
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MY STORY
1. Summer is just around the corner! Do you have any special plans, activities or prayer requests for the next few months?
2. Looking back at this weekend’s teaching on “Jacob Meets Grace” was there a particular point, comment or verse that caught your attention, challenged you or confused you?
DIGGING DEEPER & TAKING IT HOME
1. This past weekend we were given a great picture of what grace in action looks like through Esau’s response to his brother Jacob. How do the following verses add to this picture of grace and its effect / purpose in our lives?
1 Corinthians 15:10
10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. [NIV]
2 Corinthians 4:14-15
14 because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you to himself. 15 All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God. [NIV]
Ephesians 2:4-7
4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. [NIV]
2. One of the indicators that we have received God’s grace is we put grace into action (James 2:26; Matthew 6:14-15).
James 2:26
26 As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead. [NIV]
Matthew 6:14-15
14 For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
How is grace important in helping make each of the actions listed 1 Peter 4:8-10 happen? [NIV]
How is grace important in helping make each of the actions listed 1 Peter 4:8-10 happen?
1 Peter 4:8-10
8 Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. 9 Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. 10 Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. [NIV]
REMEMBERING GOD’S GRACE
Remembering God’s grace is something we all want to do. Looking back at this week’s teaching and study on grace, what thought, verse, or action would you like your Growth Group to pray for you to remember during the summer months?
Looking back at this past quarter and year, how has your Growth Group experience affirmed, encouraged and/or challenged you in your connection with and influence on others, and with what it means to follow Christ and know his grace in your life?
Jesus knows we forget things we wish we remembered. That’s why Jesus told the disciples at the Last Supper to repeatedly come together and take Communion remembering all that he accomplished through his death on the cross and his resurrection. It is through this sacrifice that Jesus’ grace and mercy is made available to us.
This week, your Growth Group will conclude by doing as the disciples did and taking Communion together. To prepare for this, read the following verses and reflect on Jesus’ commitment and work in your life as you follow him.
1 Peter 2:22-25
22 “He committed no sin,
and no deceit was found in his mouth.”
23 When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. 24 “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.” 25 For “you were like sheep going astray,” but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. [NIV]
Romans 5:7-11
7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! 10 For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! 11 Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. [NIV]
1 Corinthians 11:23-26
23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. [NIV]
| North Coast U Courses |
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North Coast U is a ministry of North Coast Church which offers short-term, non-accredited classes and seminars.
- Discovering North Coast Church with Larry Osborne: Monday, July 29 & August 5, at the Vista Campus
- Discovering Your Spiritual Gifts with Gary VanDerford: Thursdays, July 18-August 1, at the Vista Campus
- Dynamic Marriage: Mondays, July 8-September 9, at the
Carlsbad Campus
- Emotionally Healthy Spirituality: Dates TBD, at the Vista Campus
- Financial Peace University: Mondays, June 17-August 12, at the Carlsbad Campus
- “I Choose Us” Date Night with Gary VanDerford: Friday July 19 & August 23, at the Vista Campus
- Leadership: Plain & Simple: Dates TBD, at the Vista Campus
- Love and Logic® Parenting for All Ages: Thursdays, June 6-27, at the Vista Campus
- Sermon On The Mount with Rabbi Barney Kasdan: Thursday, June 13 & 20, at the Vista Campus
- Tactics in Defending the Faith with Alan Shlemon: Thursday, July 18, at the Vista Campus
To find more information and to register for any of
these classes, go to northcoastchurch.com/ncu
We’ve had another record setting year in our Community Service ministry—we’ve done more Community Service projects than ever before!
Thank you so much for all that you’ve done to serve our community and for being the hands and feet of Jesus in our community.
